


Shared Wings

by Aroband



Category: DARLING In The FRANXX (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 09:41:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29872734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aroband/pseuds/Aroband
Summary: Hiro lost his motivation in life a long time ago, and neither he or his friends can revitalize him. Until he meets a strange girl at a party one night, who has been alone for as long as she can remember. Together, they have the chance rediscover what it means to live with themselves and each other. (Modern setting)
Relationships: Goro | 056/Ichigo | 015, Hiro | 016/Zero Two | 002, Kokoro | 556/Mitsuru | 326, Miku | 390/Zorome | 666
Comments: 17
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also being posted on my fanfiction.net account at https://www.fanfiction.net/~aroband  
> This version of the story will contain more explicit scenes than I feel comfortable posting on that site. Not sure if anyone polices the ratings over there, but I'm not risking it. So enjoy the same thing here, now with extra smut!  
> Also, I tend to write massive author's notes when I post to FanFiction, so if you want to read my mad ramblings, head over there for that. I'll be purposefully leaving them out here.  
> I'm also sorry for the inconsistent tabbing at the beginnings of paragraphs. I'll fix it eventually.

The first thing Hiro was aware of when he woke up was that he was cold. He was pretty sure that hadn’t been the case a moment ago, but he couldn’t figure out why something would have changed. He knew he hadn’t thrown his blankets off him in his sleep; he could still feel the sheets covering his body. At least, on most of it. His left half, the cold half, could feel the cool air circulating there.

He reluctantly cracked his eyes open and shut them again almost immediately after for two reasons. The first was the splitting headache that pierced his mind like a spear as soon as light hit his eyes.

The second was the naked girl standing directly in his line of vision.

He groaned in pain as the headache asserted itself as the dominant problem, pulling the thin sheet over his head in an attempt to block out the light. White sheets. That wasn’t right either. He had dark blue sheets on his bed. Add that to the list of things that didn’t seem right with the situation.

Once the light stopped feeling like it was stabbing him in the head with its brilliance, he peeked out from beneath them to where he had seen the girl. She was still there and still naked. Her long hair covered her abundant breasts and her bottom half was mostly hidden by the bed and sheets, but he could still make out the curve of her rear.

“Oh, you’re awake. Sorry for waking you, I was just leaving, you can go whenever you want. I’ve got stuff to do.” She snapped on a red bra as she spoke, seemingly unperturbed by him seeing her naked. “Your clothes should be around somewhere. I don’t know where they went.” Hiro immediately became aware that he was also naked. Which meant they had been in the bed, naked, together. Nothing was adding up.

“What the hell happened? Why am I here and why are we naked?” The girl laughed at his questions.

“Wow, I knew you were a bit drunk last night, but I didn’t realize you were that bad. I didn’t figure you for such a lightweight.”

“Last night…” Hiro mumbled, trying to find his memories among his still agonizing headache. Things slowly started piecing themselves together…

* * *

Hiro was having an extraordinarily shitty Friday. First week of the semester and he could already feel his mind slipping. He had always enjoyed school and learning, some had even called him brilliant, but what had once been a passion for learning had become a poor imitation of his former enthusiasm. He was burned out. Life didn’t have the same luster it once had, and it had been that way for a long time. And to make matters worse, he had an essay due in a week for two different classes and homework assignments in the other three.

And then his girlfriend broke up with him. She had said he wasn’t exciting or interesting to be around. Their dates were boring and she didn’t care about him the way she had before. Not that he could really blame her, but it stung all the same.

He was sitting with his long-time group of friends in their dorm hall when an excellent opportunity presented itself. “I hear there’s this awesome party going on this house right down the block,” Miku was saying. “Celebrating the start of the school year and all that. Anyone want to go?”

“Geez, what’s there to celebrate? Eight more months of college? It’s not like this is even our last year. We’re sophomores, for crying out loud!” Zorome was quick to butt in. Miku shot him a sour look.

“Hey, if you don’t want to come, don’t come. No one’s forcing you to.” Zorome stuttered and mumbled something before shutting up.

“Well, I’ll go. I think it sounds like fun.” Goro, ever the team player, threw his hat into the ring.

“Yeah, I bet it’ll be a great time!” Kokoro said cheerily. Futoshi was next to agree, barely getting his words out around the sandwich he was munching on. Predictably, Mitsuru and Ikuno declined, both citing ‘better things to do,’ even when Kokoro asked her boyfriend nicely.

“I think you guys are spoil sports,” Ichigo said, turning to a pouting Miku. “and that it sounds like a good time. Count me in.” Miku cheered up quickly, and Ichigo turned towards Hiro, who had been silent so far. “What about you, Hiro? Come out with us. It’ll be fun.”

Normally, Hiro would have declined, saying he wasn’t feeling up to it. But this time, it sounded like just the thing he needed. A blessed distraction from all his problems and failures. “Let’s do it,” he said, more enthusiasm in his voice than anyone had heard in months. Everyone took it as a positive sign and quickly made plans to meet up later before dispersing back to their rooms.

Hiro and Goro hung out in their shared dorm for a few hours until it was time to head over to the party. A short walk later, the group was walking through the open door of the house. Music blasted from further back in the building, snacks and drinks lined the tables, and students were everywhere, drinking, chatting, flirting, and dancing. The group dispersed, promising to keep an eye on each other. Hiro’s first stop was the drink table, where he grabbed something that didn’t look too heavy and moseyed through the house.

As he wandered through the home, he found himself in the backyard, predictably full of people. Hiro’s very slightly below average height and lean build aided him in slipping through the crowd to lean against the fence encircling the yard. From there, he watched as people milled around, greeting old friends and striking up conversations with random strangers. He sighed as he took swigs of whatever alcoholic beverage he had snagged, not really interested in anything other than staring at his peers as they enjoyed the party. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” he mumbled to himself, unsure what to do with himself.

“I guess you’re like me then.” Hiro started at a voice beside him, turning to see a girl with pink hair and dressed in a form fitting outfit standing next to him. A white headband with two red protrusions sat on her head, holding some of her long hair back from her face. Deep teal eyes that almost seemed luminescent stared back at him.

She felt familiar.

“Huh?” he said, struck dumb by the girl that had snuck up on him.

“You’re like me,” she said again. “No one to be with, just on the outside looking in.” Her captivating eyes switched back to the shifting crowd. “I know how you feel,” she said, an air of whimsy in her voice. “Still, it’s not all bad. This way I can find exactly what I’m looking for.” A seductive tone had entered her voice, something Hiro was entirely unfamiliar with. He shifted nervously, not wanting to join the crowd to escape, but not wanting to stay where he was.

“Right,” he said slowly, pushing himself away from the fence and walking back towards the house. “I’m just going to get another drink. I’ll see you later.”

“I’m counting on it,” he heard from behind him before the girl got out of earshot.

The rest of the night, he kept seeing the strange pink-haired girl out of the corner of his eye. She never seemed to be talking to anyone, just standing aloofly against a wall or on the stairs or sitting on a couch. He tried not to pay her any mind, but it got harder and harder, especially as the alcohol started to set in. His normally keen awareness started to fail him, gaps appearing when he couldn’t exactly remember what had happened. Somehow, he found himself sitting next to the strange girl, her hand tracing suggestively over his shirt as she licked his cheek. Another jump and he was kissing her. Another, he was walking side by side with her through the night. Finally, he found himself in a dorm room much like his own, kissing the girl again and falling into her bed. She looked down at him, victory in her eyes.

“Looks like you’re my darling for the night,” she said before jumping on top of him and his memory failed him.

* * *

“Oh gosh,” he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut again, trying to remember anything else about he night before and coming up empty. Apparently, he had been too out of it to really remember what had happened. Which was a damn shame. “I seriously can’t remember my first time...” He groaned again, pulling down the sheets slightly before realizing there was still a girl in the room. Even if she had seen him before, the situation was totally different when Drunk Hiro was replaced with Normal Hiro.

“Wait, really?” the girl asked as she pulled on a pair of shorts, hiding her bare skin from his view. “That was your first time having sex? Huh, it didn’t seem like it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hiro asked, still coming to grips with everything that had led to him waking up in a stranger’s room after having slept with her.

“It means,” she said in the same seductive voice she had used the night before, leaning over him to get a closer look at his face. “I might want to have another go of it. How about it? Want to be my darling a while longer?” Her body hung over his, their eyes staring fixatedly on each other. As Hiro looked into hers, he once again had an odd feeling of familiarity, though he couldn’t remember seeing her before. ‘Surely I’d remember her,’ he thought. Before he could say, much less do anything, the girl’s phone rang, breaking their staring contest. The mysterious girl quickly snatched up the phone. “Time’s up, I guess,” she mumbled, before walking towards the door, grabbing a shoulder bag on the way. Hiro quickly called out to her as she opened the door to the room.

“Wait!” She paused, and Hiro didn’t actually know what he was going to say. “I don’t even know your name,” he finished somewhat lamely. The girl turned and smirked at him, brushing her lengthy pink hair back, the headband he had seen the day before in place once again.

“My name?” she asked, her eyes gazing into the distance for a moment. “I don’t know your name either, you know.” Hiro blinked, surprised it hadn’t come up. Though he wasn’t all the surprised, given where her mind had apparently been.

“I’m Hiro.”

“Hiro, huh?” She paused a moment before fixing her enrapturing eyes on his. “You can call me Zero Two then.” And before Hiro could say another word, she closed the door and was gone.

* * *

“Where the hell were you last night? I lost track of you at the party and then you stay out all night? What happened to keeping tabs on each other?” Goro was pissed when Hiro got back to their dorm, which was, surprisingly enough, was in the same building as Zero Two’s room. In fact, her floor was just a few above his own.

Hiro couldn’t do much to lessen Goro’s irritation. “I’m sorry, I had a bit too much to drink,” he said, trying to stave off further questions about what had happened. His plan quickly backfired.

“You mean you were wandering around drunk? What the hell Hiro?!”

“No! I was…with someone. Inside, not wandering around.”

“Who were you with? I talked to everyone, no one saw you after the party. Mitsuru and Ikuno said they didn’t see you at all last night. So, who were you with?” Hiro could see the concern in Goro’s eyes being edged out by curiosity.

“I was…. with a girl….” Hiro trailed off, a bright blush filling his face.

“A girl?” Goro said with no small amount of surprise. “A girl you knew, or just some girl?” Realization bloomed on his face as he connected the dots. “Wait, are you saying, you…”

“Yes, Goro,” Hiro finally said. “I slept with someone. I was a bit drunk and out of it, so I don’t really remember it, but I definitely slept with her. I woke up this morning in her room.” Goro was too stunned to form a proper reply, but when the door swung open to reveal a wide-eyed Zorome and Miku, he didn’t have to.

“WHAT?! NO WAY! There’s no way timid little Hiro had sex before I did. I refuse to believe it. There’s just no way.” Zorome continued his enraged tirade, walking out into the hallway to continue spouting his outrage. Miku just stood where she was and scoffed.

“Well, I’m not surprised really. For someone to want to sleep with Zorome, they’d have to be able to deal with him for more than forty seconds. And I think we all know the likelihood of that happening.” Quick as could be, Zorome swept back into the room, getting right up in Miku’s face.

“I heard that, and I don’t appreciate it.”

“But you don’t refute it,” Miku said with a smirk.

“HEY!” The two went off on their own tirade chasing each other out of Hiro and Goro’s dorm. A moment later, the rest of the group poked their heads into the room, looking at a still reeling Goro and a still embarrassed Hiro. Futoshi was the first to speak up.

“Wait, Hiro, you really had sex with someone last night? How was it? Who was it?”

“I bet it was that pink-haired girl at the party last night.” Kokoro said, her guess spot on. “I saw her a few times and every time she was looking at Hiro. She was cute,” she said with a wink in Hiro’s direction. He was still too busy staring a hold in his bed to notice.

“Hmh, impressive,” Mitsuru muttered. “You got with a hot girl and can’t even remember it.” Kokoro shot him a sour look, but he didn’t say anything else, just stalked away to his own room. Ikuno gave him a sidelong glance before doing the same, leaving Hiro, Goro, Kokoro, and a still silent Ichigo in the room, Futoshi having wandered off in search of a snack.

“Do you think you’ll see her again?” Kokoro asked, sitting down next to Hiro, who shrugged.

“Probably. She actually lives just a few floors up, so she definitely goes to the school. I haven’t seen her before though, so she’s probably new.” He stared off into the distance for a moment before speaking softly, “I hope I do see her again.” No one saw the twinge of pain that flashed across Ichigo’s face before she finally spoke.

“Did you say she had pink hair?” A quick nod from Hiro was her answer. “I’ve heard a rumor going around the school about a girl that goes around sleeping with any guy that catches her attention. They say she’s either standoffish or flirtatious and seductive. That sound familiar?” Kokoro thought for a moment before agreeing that at least part of the description fit.

“Interesting,” Goro mused as the group lapsed into silence. Hiro, who had been quiet for most of the conversation, suddenly spoke up, his voice different from his usual resigned tone.

“You guys shouldn’t judge someone too much based on rumors and stuff. You don’t know what she’s like.”

“And you do?” Ichigo asked with just a bit of venom in her voice. Hiro blushed lightly.

“I didn’t say that. Just that you shouldn’t jump the gun. Maybe this girl isn’t who you’re talking about, or maybe those rumors are all fake. You don’t know.”

“Yeah, you’re right man, sorry,” Goro said, speaking for the other two as well. “Trust the philosophy major to call us out for being assumptive.” They all laughed, finding the truth in his words. Hiro was the conscious of the group, a role that fell right in line with his personality and outlook on the world.

“Anyways guys, I’m going to get a bit of sleep. I’m still wiped from last night,” Hiro said with a yawn. Goro chuckled.

“I guess I can’t blame you. I bet you didn’t have all that restful of a night.” Hiro shot the taller boy a glare, who held up his hands with a laugh. “Okay, sorry, probably poor taste. Get some rest, Hiro. It is the weekend, after all.” Goro and the two girls quickly filed out of the room, Ichigo pausing for a moment to shoot one last glance over her shoulder at the boy sitting on his bed before turning off the light and closing the door.

Hiro laid there for a few minutes, waiting for his spinning thoughts to calm enough for him to rest. The girl from the night before and that morning, Zero Two, danced around in his head, all of his thoughts twisting back to her. For the first time in a while, he actually felt the drive again. The urge to learn, to excel, to be someone other than a spectator in his own life. He found that, unlike the day before, he was looking forward to the coming school year, especially if it meant seeing Zero Two again.

* * *

Zero Two, as she preferred to be called, was wandering around campus, looking for something to do. In any sense of the word. She was reluctant to start on any of the menial homework she had been assigned, not seeing the point when she had the whole weekend to do it. Or rather, to put off doing it.

Instead, she found herself wandering around the school, trying to figure out where everything was. She had transferred to Jian University just the week before and hadn’t had much chance to actually look around except to find her dorm, her classes, and, of course, the food court. The glorious food court, open almost all day and more akin to a massive buffet than anything else. She licked her lips at the mere thought of it.

As her tongue traced her lips, she caught a taste of her most recent conquest. ‘Hiro,’ she thought. ‘Could he be…? No way, it couldn’t be. It’s a common enough name. Though he does have the same messy black hair. It’s possible…”

She continued her musings, wandering the campus before finding a large tree and clambering into its wide branches. Unable to help herself, her mind drifted back to Hiro and how he had treated her the night before. She had plenty of experiences with guys that had a bit too much to drink, but Hiro hadn’t treated her the same way they had. They were always confident and attempting to be cool, and always got worse when she started coming on to them. Then in bed, they were domineering and pushy. It made it all the more satisfying when she wrested control away from them and put them under her thumb.

But Hiro hadn’t done any of that. When she was flirting with him, he had been embarrassed and twitchy. When he was buzzed, he wasn’t much better, just a little bit more relaxed. He hadn’t even been the one to start kissing her, she had to make the first move. Before that, he had been content to sit and talk. When she took him back to her room, there had been no control to take away since he had never had any in the first place, letting her lead the entire time.

And then that morning. Every other guy she had slept with had been unabashed the next morning, if they got the chance to be. Staring at her naked form, admiring her from the perch of their own egos. They had always asked for another go, to which she would teasingly lead them on before dropping them for the next target. Without fail, they were all the same.

Until now. Until Hiro. He hadn’t looked at her with any of that. Instead, he was timid, unconfident, and scared. Which made sense, given that she was apparently his first and he didn’t seem to remember it. But that didn’t excuse the last thing he did.

He asked for her name.

It wasn’t all that uncommon. Guys would ask all the time. But they used it as an opening line, a first step to get to what they wanted. So she would make something up, or dodge the question. After a while, they wouldn’t remember or care. She knew, because she did the same with their names. A means to an end. Hiro had thrown all that on its head. Asking her name when he had nothing left to gain, introducing himself first. It all made no sense. He was so different from every other boy she has slept with.

It made her want to see him again, a feeling entirely foreign to her.

On the plus side, he went to Jian same as she did. He had mentioned when they were going to her room that he was living in the same building. Chances were they’d run into each other again. She smiled slightly, pulling a bright red lollipop out of one of the pockets on her oversized black hoodie and biting into it.

As she enjoyed her treat, a buzzing from her pocket jerked her out of her thoughts. Pulling her phone out, she saw it was an email from the dorm management. She scowled slightly as she read it. Her roommate, who’s name she hadn’t bothered to remember, had complained about her for some reason or another, and she was being made to change rooms. ‘Prissy bitch,’ Zero Two thought as she looked the email over again. At least she didn’t have to go far, just down a few floors. She needed to be in the new room by Monday. ‘I’ll do it Sunday night. It’ll serve that jerk right, having to deal with me as long as possible.’ Turning her phone back off, she went back to her snack and the warm light of the afternoon.


	2. Chapter 2

The remainder of Saturday was uneventful for Hiro. He took his nap and woke up feeling refreshed and energized. In the space of three hours, he got one of his essays written and two other assignments done. He even came out of his room when Kokoro insisted on cooking something in the floor’s communal kitchen, the delicious smells tempting him as well as some of the other people on the floor that he didn’t know. Satisfied with a reasonably productive day, Hiro went back to bed and slept peacefully.

The next day was entirely different, and everything went sideways in the span of about thirty minutes. Hiro, Goro, Ichigo, Futoshi, Miku, Zorome, Kokoro, Mitsuru, and Ikuno were all walking to the dining area for a Sunday breakfast, joking and, in Zorome and Miku’s case, arguing with each other. Everyone was in high spirits, even Mitsuru and Hiro. The food selection was as impressive as they expected. Waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, omelets, fresh fruit, muffins, bagels, bread for toasting, and a dozen other things were spread out for their selection. After piling their plates as high as they could, the found two empty tables and crowded around them to eat, the boys ending up separate from the girls.

“Ohoho, this looks awesome,” Zorome said as his hands hovered over his plate, trying to decide what to taste first. Futoshi grunted in agreement from around a large mouthful of waffle, having no such qualms about what to eat first, as long as he got to eat it all. The other three dug in as well, enjoying the rich flavors they had collected on their plates.

Hiro was halfway through a bowl of yogurt mixed with granola when he spotted a familiar-looking head of pink hair. He leaned around Goro to get a better look and found he was right. Zero Two was sitting alone at a small table a little way away, enthusiastically eating a plate of French toast that appeared to be completely soaked in some sticky liquid. Her gaze roved over the sparse collection of other students spread around the food court. It took Hiro a moment to realize he was staring at the strange girl, and by that time, she had already seen him and locked eyes on him, a familiar smile spreading across her face that made his heart skip a beat.

Before he could do anything else, Goro had noticed his friend’s odd posture and dropped into his field of view. “What are you looking at?” he asked, turning to look the same way Hiro was.

“That’s her,” Hiro said quietly, nodding towards Zero Two, who was walking towards their table with her plate of food in tow.

“Her?” Goro asked, not catching Hiro’s meaning.

“From the party. The girl I…” his voice trailed off, and Goro’s eyes went wide with realization.

“That’s her? You sure?” Hiro nodded quickly, still watching Zero Two as she walked closer and closer to their table. “That’s the girl Ichigo was talking about yesterday. I guess Mitsuru saw her wandering around and apparently she’s the one.” Hiro barely had a moment to think about the implications of Goro’s statement when the tall girl in question was sitting down on his lap and setting her plate down next to his.

“Hello again, Darling. Hope you don’t mind if I join you,” she said, not at all ashamed of the position she had put herself in or the surprise of his tablemates. Specifically, Zorome spewing his apple juice all over his own food and Mitsuru fumbling his fork. Conversation at the boy’s table immediately died, the girl’s table quickly following suit once they noticed the commotion and its source.

“D-darling?!” Zorome said incredulously, staring openly at the girl perched on Hiro’s lap. “Wh-wh-what the fuck is that?!” Mitsuru and Futoshi let loose with similar questions, Goro only able to hold his own back thanks to the small amount of information he already had on the situation.

Zero Two hardly reacted at all, just picking up a honey and syrup-soaked piece of French toast and topped with bacon up to Hiro’s mouth. “Say ‘ah’,” she said, holding the treat in front of him expectantly. Not sure what else to do, Hiro obeyed, taking a large bite of the proffered food. Zero Two smiled happily before cramming the remaining portion into her own mouth.

“Lucky bastard,” Zorome mumbled, trying to clean up some of his spilled juice. All the other boys just watched the interaction, not sure of what to do. Fortunately for them, Ichigo came over and broke the awkward silence.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” she asked, barely contained outrage seeping into her voice. Zero Two took her eyes off her food at looked at the annoyed girl with an innocent expression.

“Eating,” she said, shifting slightly on Hiro’s lap, much to his chagrin. He was all too conscious of the fact that the last time he had seen Zero Two, she had been naked.

“Yes, I see that,” Ichigo replied, her irritation rising with every second. “Why are you doing it there? Specifically, on Hiro?” Zero Two shrugged her shoulders.

“I saw my darling and wanted to sit with him. You don’t mind, do you?” she asked turning to the boy who’s lap she was sitting on.

“N-not really…” Hiro mumbled self-consciously. Zero Two flashed a brilliant smile at Hiro, then at Ichigo, and went back to her food. Hiro, unsure of what else to do, resumed eating his own meal, sometimes having to pull his fork out of reach of Zero Two’s mouth when she snapped at it and the food on it. Ichigo just stood there, dumbfounded.

“Since when is Hiro your ‘darling’,” she asked, voice positively dripping with venom. Zero Two licked her fingers clean of syrup before answering.

“Since…Friday? Either Friday or Saturday, depending on how late it was when we left that party. Do you remember?” she asked Hiro, who having just taken a large bite of bacon, shrugged.

“So, wait, you’re the girl that goes around sleeping with any guy she wants?” Ichigo asked, staring at the pink haired girl. “You’re Io- “

“I’m Zero Two,” she interrupted, looking at Ichigo with a suddenly hostile expression.

“Zero Two?” Mitsuru grumbled. “What kind of name is that?” Zero Two just shot him a dirty look before returning to her food, quickly getting her hands covered in syrup again.

“Hah, so you’re the girl that Hiro slept with?” Zorome scoffed, standing next to Zero Two as she scarfed down more French toast covered in honey and powdered sugar. “I bet he was terrible; probably just laid there and made you do all the work. How would you like to see how a real man is in bed? I’m sure I could find the time to show you what you’re missing out on.” He gave her a confident smirk, under the impression that any girl that would deign to sleep with Hiro must be unaware that there were far better prospects available.

The girl in question was far less impressed though. ‘He’s just like all the others,’ she thought. ‘No, worse, it’s like he’s doing this for a dare. Boring,’ she returned her attention to the remining bits of her food, taking advantage of the arrogant boy’s very clean and very white shirt to clean her hand off.

The resulting screech of outrage from beside her made her smile slyly, but the loud laugh from behind her made her heartbeat just a bit faster. It wasn’t often she heard noises of such pure amusement, and these were coming from someone who had so far only really expressed a depressed attitude, at least in front of her. Hearing her darling’s laugh brought her a pleasure unlike any she had felt in a long time.

Finishing the last of her meal, she cleaned her hands one more time and stood up from her very comfortable seat. “You’re leaving already?” Hiro asked, looking and sounding a bit disappointed. A teasing grin spread across Zero Two’s face.

“Oh? What’s wrong? Hoping to spend more time with me, Darling? Maybe like last time?” she asked, both teasing and curious about his answer. Most guys she offered this chance to jumped at the opportunity. Plus, it would be one last goodbye present to her soon to be former roommate if she brought a guy in when she was supposed to be moving out. But, as she suspected, Hiro wasn’t like that.

“N-no, I actually just wanted to get to know you better. If we talked at all before, I don’t really remember,” he said, blushing slightly at her insinuation. For a moment, Zero Two felt a little bad, but quickly pushed the feeling down before it had the chance to stick.

“Aww, sorry, but I’ve got to go pack my stuff up. My roommate kicked me out, so now I’m changing rooms.” Hiro’s eyes widened slightly, a little afraid of losing what tenuous connection he had to this strange and alluring girl.

“Where are you moving to?” he quickly asked.

“Not far, just a few floors down actually. Room…406, I think. I’m sure you can see me again, if you really want to,” she finished with another sneaky smile. But a moment later, she saw that confusion was covering her darling’s face.

“Room 406, as in fourth floor of our building? That’s the same floor we’re all on.” This time, Zero Two really couldn’t help the jump she felt in her chest.

“Really? What room are you in then?”

“409. I guess we’re going to be hallmates.” Zero Two could see next to him, all his friends were listening in on the conversation, their various levels of interest evident on their faces. The rude, blue-haired girl and the arrogant short boy were both looking on with irritation, the tall blonde with interest, and most of the others only vaguely paying attention, with the skinny, pale haired guy scowling in her direction.

But none of that mattered. She was basically going to be able to live with Hiro! Maybe then she could figure out what made him so different from all the other guys she had slept with. With that happy thought, she smiled at him once again, unaware of the happiness that smile stirred up in him. “I guess so,” she said, taking a bouncing step away. “I guess I’ll see you soon then, Darling.” She turned to go get rid of her dishes when his unsteady voice interrupted her.

“Actually…” Hiro said cautiously, “If you need to move, do you want some help? I bet it would go a lot faster if there were two people doing it rather than just one.” Zero Two giggled at his hesitant offer, but quickly turned back to him, still smiling.

“Are you sure you don’t just want to spend more time with me?” she teased, her smile widening when his cheeks went an even deeper shade of red. “I’m kidding. But I could use some help, thanks.” Normally, she would have refused any offer of help, but she didn’t see the harm in it this time. Besides, she had a few heavy boxes. It might be nice to see him lifting those. Content in her decision, she spun around again and walked off towards the dish drop and then her soon to be former dorm, Hiro hurrying to catch up.

Behind them, the rest of Hiro’s friends looked on.

“I think Hiro really likes her,” Kokoro said, watching the two walk side by side out the dining center doors.

“It certainly looks that way,” Goro replied, gathering his plates to leave.

“I don’t like it,” Ichigo muttered. “What if she’s just using him? Trying to wring every drop of kindness out of him she can before she throws him away? From what I’ve heard, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“But I thought most of the rumors said she would only sleep with a guy once or twice?” Goro said. “She seems to really have taken to him. I doubt she would go to all that trouble just to get him into bed again. It’s like Hiro said, give her the benefit of the doubt.”

“I guess…” Ichigo grumbled. Nearby, Kokoro was reprimanding Mitsuru for saying something similar, though with a bit more venom than Ichigo had and with less sympathy towards Hiro.

“I just don’t see what all the buzz is about him,” Zorome groused, leaning his chair back on two legs. “He’s a depressed, boring guy. What’s there for her to like? Especially when she’s so hot.” Zorome suddenly found his seat slammed back down on all fours from behind.

“What do you mean she’s hot? And why were you suddenly trying to get with her?” an enraged Miku asked from behind Zorome, who couldn’t help the slight chill of fear that tingled down his spine.

“What is it to you?” he shot back, standing up to get right in the girl’s face. Their argument quickly stole the group’s attention, but Hiro and Zero Two continued to linger in everyone’s mind.

___________________________________________________________________________________

“Looks like that’s the last of it,” Hiro grunted as he lowered the last box into Zero Two’s new room on his floor. It was a little smaller than his, but she would be the only occupant, which kind of made up for it.

“Thank you, Darling,” Zero Two said, hugging Hiro’s head to her chest and making the boy sputter. He managed to extract himself from her tight embrace but was unable to keep the red out of his cheeks or look her in the eye.

“Why do you call me that?” he asked, sitting on the mostly box covered bed. Zero Two quirked her head in confusion.

“Call you what?”

“Darling.”

“Oh,” she said slowly before moving over to one of her boxes and starting to pull things out of it. “I guess you don’t remember. You became my darling the other night when I decided I wanted to be with you.” She went back to her sorting as if the entire matter was settled. Hiro didn’t feel that way at all.

“Uhh…okay. But that was the other night. I thought you…”

“Slept around?” Zero Two asked offhandedly, glancing over her shoulder at him as he nodded, too embarrassed to say the same. “Normally I do. One week I slept with a different guy every night.” Hiro thought he detected a hint of bitterness in her voice but didn’t have time to ponder it. “But you’ve caught my attention, Darling. So, until I get bored, my Darling you shall be. Now, open up that box and help me with my clothes.” Once again, she returned to her sorting, leaving Hiro nothing but confusion and orders to follow.

He diligently carried the box she pointed out over to her dresser before opening it. He didn’t really look at what was in the box until the contents were already in his hands.

“Darling, I hadn’t figured you for a pervert,” Zero Two said mockingly as he dropped the pile of her underwear that he had grabbed, laughing delightedly at the look of pure embarrassment on his face.

“Hey, that’s the box you said to grab! You planned that, didn’t you?!” Zero Two just laughed harder, and Hiro was helpless to join in, both of them lying on the floor laughing at each other’s antics.

Once they had calmed down, they returned to their work, Hiro breaking the silence every once in a while to ask Zero Two where she wanted something. After a while, most of the boxes were unpacked with everything put away. “Thanks again for the help, Darling,” Zero Two said, wrapping her arms around the boy again. “I wish I had a good way to thank you…” she murmured, her hands tracing over his shoulders and teasing any exposed skin she could find.

“Th-that’s fine, I don’t need a reward or anything,” Hiro stuttered out, as nervous as ever, his eyes flitting around for some form of escape.

“Are you sure? Because as I recall, you don’t remember what we did the other night. I was thinking I could…refresh your memory.”

‘How does she make everything sound so sexy?’ Hiro asked himself, before forcibly extracting himself from her arms. “Sorry, I’ve got to go do something,” he said, trying to escape the girl that seemed far too interested in him. He was too slow however, and Zero Two somehow managed to get between him and the door, a predatory look in her eye.

“Darling, I didn’t take you for a liar. Why are you so desperate to get away from me? It’s not like we haven’t done it already…” Her goading was obvious, but Hiro thought he saw something else underneath that, something insecure and scared.

“You’ve got it wrong, it’s not that I…I’m just not…” Hiro tried to put his thoughts into words to relax her, but before he could get far, there was a knock at the door, startling them both.

“Hiro? Are you in there?” Ichigo’s voice came through the wood before the door opened to reveal the short girl behind it. “Hey, there you are. Are you busy?” she asked, looking between the two with an odd look in her eyes that Hiro couldn’t place.

Zero Two could. She had seen jealousy plenty of times when she grabbed away boys from girls too timid to do what they really wanted. That same look of frustration, anger, and longing was evident in the short blue-haired girl in her doorway.

“Nope, not busy at all,” her darling stammered out quickly, putting another step between them. Something pulled in her chest, but it was too short-lived for her to place. “What’s up?” A bit of the jealousy in Ichigo’s eyes disappeared.

“I’ve just got a few homework problems I don’t get and was hoping you could help me out with them.”

“Oh, sure. We’re pretty much done here anyways. You okay with the rest yourself, Zero Two?” he asked, still kind to her despite his previous unease. She smiled at him and trailed one of her hands down his chest lightly.

“I’ll be fine, Darling. Thanks so much for _all_ your help.” She purposefully emphasized her wording to watch the adorable blush that appeared on his face as he caught the implication of her words. The look on Ichigo’s face was icing on the cake.

The two left, Hiro giving her one last look before closing the door gently and leaving her alone. Suddenly lost for any motivation, Zero Two threw herself onto her bed, letting herself bounce on the mattress before laying askew on the formerly tidy bed. She laid there for a moment; her mind empty of any thoughts when a particular scent tickled her senses. It was faint but resonated with her in an odd way. It made her think of lazy mornings, warmth, sleepless nights, and comfort.

She jerked out of bed, sniffing around the room to try and find the source of the enticing smell. She searched around but couldn’t find a trace of it again until she came back to the bed. The smell was emanating from the blankets laid haphazardly across the sheets. Zero Two buried her face in the blankets in question, trying to figure out why they smelled so wonderful. It took her a few more sniffs before she realized.

Those were the blankets her darling had slept under Friday night. He had also been sitting on them just a few minutes ago before he left. It was his smell that had her enraptured. Zero Two’s mind flitted to the absurdity that a person’s smell could inspire such emotion from her, how strange and unprecedented it was and what it could possibly mean before the magical scent caught her again and whisked her mind away to a place of calm and comfort.


	3. Chapter 3

Hiro’s Monday passed without incident. He went to class, he ate, he did homework, and he hung out with his friends. But somehow, he didn’t see Zero Two once. The lack of her boundless energy left him feeling empty and almost restless. But he did his best to not let it bother him and pressed on.

Tuesday was a similar affair. Not a single sign of the pink-haired girl. Hiro even made a point to sit in the common room between their rooms in the hopes that he would at least catch a glimpse of her. All he managed to do was waste an hour playing on his phone for an hour after he had finished every bit of homework he could find. He ended up going back to his room downtrodden and filled with the same feeling of emptiness.

Zero Two, for her part, hardly noticed the days passing, due to her spending most of them asleep in her bed, face pressed into her blankets to try to capture every bit of her darling’s scent that she could. She didn’t bother going to her classes, did the minimum amount of homework assigned, and ate whatever she could find hidden in her room, which mainly consisted of an unhealthy number of sweets.

It was only when the last of the entrancing scent had fled her blankets that she considered leaving her room for an extended period of time. She had long ago come to the realization that her darling was close by and probably smelled, and tasted, even better than her sheets, but then she would have to deal with his friends, who didn’t seem to like her very much, other people, and life in general. Not to mention the flip-flopping of her chest got even worse when she saw him, and she wasn’t sure she liked the feeling. It wasn’t bad, per say, but it wasn’t _good_ either.

Eventually though, she found she had no choice. If she wanted to have any tangible reminder of Hiro, she would have to actually see him again.

Luckily, she wouldn’t have to go far.

It only took her a minute to spot her darling sitting in the dorm common room picking over a few papers. She quickly made her way behind him before he noticed her standing there.

“Daaaaaarling……” she crooned over his shoulder, loving the way he jumped as she trailed her hands over his shoulders and down his chest. “I missed you…”

“Z-zero Two! Um…hi? I haven’t seen you recently. Where have you been?” Zero Two felt a quick pang or sadness. Her darling had noticed her missing. Maybe she should have tried to find him sooner.

“Sorry darling, I’ve been…busy.” She wasn’t about to tell him she had been sitting alone in her room for the past few days. “But I’m willing to make it up to you if you’d like,” she said, her hands roaming his slim chest more aggressively. She wasn’t quite sure what inspired her assertiveness, but she felt a need unlike any she had felt before and this seemed like the best way to quench it.

Hiro sputtered cutely, thrown off by her forwardness and tried to turn around to face her properly. Taking advantage of the brief opportunity, Zero Two quickly leaned in and kissed him solidly on the lips.

Tingling erupted from her lips and sent uniquely pleasurable sensations rushing down her spine. She groaned involuntarily into Hiro's mouth, which had hardly moved. Zero Two quickly found herself pushed backwards and the contact between their lips was broken. It only took a moment that the hands pushing her away from her darling were, in fact, her darling’s. She looked at him, confused by his sudden rejection.

“Wait, wait. Just wait a minute, Zero Two,” he said slightly breathlessly. “You can’t just kiss me like that. I mean, I don’t want you to. I hardly…” his voice faded away as his words sunk in. He didn’t want her. He didn’t want to kiss her, didn’t want to sleep with her, probably didn’t even want to see her. No one had ever said that to her before. She was the one that turned them down, not the other way around. She was the one in control. Until now.

Zero Two jerked away from Hiro, cutting off whatever he was saying. She felt the fear in her heart as she stared at him with wide eyes. But fear made her weak, so anger stepped in. She grabbed Hiro’s arms and gripped him as tightly as she could.

“You think you can turn me down?” she snarled, suddenly aggressive. “I was just using you anyways, you don’t mean anything to me. Nothing!” Now he wasn’t the one throwing her away, _she_ was throwing _him_ away. “I could have a different guy every night if I want. You’re not special!”

“Zero Two, that hurts.” Hiro’s pained words slipped into her mind, breaking her out of her frantic thoughts. She blinked and looked down to where her nails were biting into his skin. Small beads of red blood were welling up where her nails had dug too deep. She abruptly let go of him, stumbling backwards and gazing at her pink-tinged nails before her eyes flicked back up to Hiro’s. The pain in his eyes stung her more than any of his words, breaking down the last wall in her fracturing emotional barrier. Before any traitorous feelings could slip out, she stormed back to her dorm, ignoring Hiro’s desperate calls from behind her as she slammed the door and sank to the floor, staring in numb shock at the blood staining her fingertips and the memory of pain in blue eyes.

* * *

Hiro stared in worried confusion as Zero Two stalked away, threw open her door and slammed it shut a moment after. Something he had said or done had set her off, but he wasn’t sure what it could be. Girls in general were a mystery to him; he could hardly be expected to understand a girl he hadn’t known for a week when he still get Ichigo, whom he had known since they were kids. Speaking of which…

“Hiro!” Ichigo exclaimed, springing up from where she was sitting across from him when she noticed the thin trails of red running down his arms. “Oh my gosh, did she cut you?! What kind of crazy person is she? Grabbing you, then k-kissing you, then clawing at you and then running away?!? What is _wrong_ with her?!”

“Ichigo, calm down,” Goro said gently, watching from where he was sitting next to Ichigo’s now vacated seat. “It’s not like his arm is going to fall off.” Hiro shot Goro a grateful look, though his words did little to calm Ichigo.

“That’s not the damn point, Goro! She practically mauled him for turning her down! What kind of person does that?” She looked at Hiro’s wounds a moment longer before quickly walking off towards her room. “I’ve got some disinfectant in my room, I’ll be right back,” she said over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner to the girls’ rooms. The two boys sat in silence, Hiro smearing away drops of blood as his wounds clotted before Goro spoke.

“Why do you think she did that?” he asked quietly, trying to decipher the strange girl’s actions. Hiro didn’t say anything, just played with the sticky blood between his fingers, watching it stretch between the digits before the tenuous strands snapped. He stood and walked over to the nearby sink, rinsing the blood from his fingers. He quickly dried his hands and sat back down, looking at his now clean fingers for a moment before gazing emptily at the wall.

“She looked afraid,” he said finally. Goro didn’t have a moment to ask what he meant before Ichigo came back and started cleaning Hiro’s small wounds with a disinfectant wipe.

Hiro eventually managed to assure Ichigo he was fine and remove himself from her doting reach. He took the homework he had been poking at back to his room before walk back across the common room to stand in front of Zero Two’s door. Goro and Ichigo both peeked around the corner to see what he was doing. He hesitated a moment before knocking on the wood of the door.

“Zero Two?” he called out, hoping she would answer. He didn’t hear anything other than his own breathing. “Zero Two, I need to talk to you,” he tried again, once more to no effect. “Please?” Silence.

Realizing it might take longer than he hoped, Hiro went back to his room, ignoring Ichigio and Goro trying too hard to be inconspicuous, grabbed one of the books he’d been meaning to read, and returned to Zero Two’s door. “Whenever you want to talk, I’ll be here,” he said to the door. This time, he heard quiet shuffling from the other side. Content that he had been heard, Hiro sat down across from the door, cracked open his book, and settled in to wait.

* * *

Zero Two had heard Hiro asking her to talk, but his voice only reminded her of his pained words when she had dug her hands into his skin, piercing his flesh and letting blood flow out…. She had been forced to suppress her horrified shudders as the feeling came back to the forefront of her mind. Just thinking about it left her feeling curiously nauseous and sorrowful, both sensations unfamiliar and uncomfortable. She had breathed a sigh of relief when he had left, but was back on edge when he returned and made himself comfortable outside the door.

She had peered out the peephole in the door at him, conflicting feelings warring inside her. A part of her thought he looked so peaceful sitting there, eyes roving over the pages of his book, occasionally turning a page or mouthing a particular section to himself. Another part could only focus on the irritated, red skin of his arms where her nails had sunk into him and the revulsion she felt for those marks.

Neither feeling made any sense to her. Tenderness was not something she was used to or had much experience with, particularly not with a guy. She was used to getting what she wanted from a man and that being the end of it. So what did she do when that wasn’t the end? What came after sex? More sex? But Hiro didn’t seem to want that, if his reaction to her suggestions were any evidence.

Her hatred for the wounds she had inflicted on him didn’t make sense either. She had clawed, punched, kicked, and even bitten guys before when they got too aggressive, overbearing, put on unwanted advances, or just caught her in the wrong mood. Never before had she felt any remorse for those actions. Now it was practically crushing her.

She needed to stop feeling these feelings, but all her usual distractions were out of reach. Going for a swim or a walk, eating until she burst, or fucking a guy were her fallbacks, but to do any of that, she’d have to leave her room. Which meant facing Hiro.

He had trapped her more effectively than she had thought possible.

Of course, now that she thought about it, she was hungry. Very hungry. ‘I guess that’s what happens when I don’t eat for two days,’ she couldn’t help but think with a hint of humor. She’d just have to hold out until Hiro gave up.

Unfortunately, an hour later, he still hadn’t moved. He had remained buried in his book, occasionally jotting notes in the margins with a pencil he had produced from somewhere. A few people spent a minute or two talking to him, always asking what he was doing. Every time, he said he was waiting to talk to her. No one really pressed him, just accepting the statement and going about their days. Only the blue-haired jealous girl actually sat with him for a while and tried to convince him to give up. Hiro adamantly refused. Zero Two felt a strange mix of victory and disappointment. He was still choosing her over his friend, but he didn’t go away.

To make it worse, her hunger was slowly overpowering her, making her contemplate making a run for it or climbing out her window on the fourth floor. Neither of which were good options. Slowly, she stood from where she was sitting against the wall and walked over to the door. Looking out the peephole again, she saw that, against all hopes, Hiro was still sitting there.

He wasn’t reading his book though. He had put it aside and was running his fingers over the clotted punctures on his arms. Then, as if he could sense her looking at him, he looked up and stared at the door, his bright eyes piercing her even through the wood. She could see in his eyes that he wasn’t going to move any time soon. She immediately knew she wouldn’t win the standoff. Which left her with only one choice, as much as she hated it.

Taking a deep breath, she jerked the door open, sending her long pink hair flying, some of it catching on her lips and nose. She pushed it back just as Hiro was getting over his surprise.

“Zero Two! I wasn’t sure if you’d actually come out…” he said unsteadily, clearly having not thought past getting her out of her room. Zero Two, for her part, wasn’t even sure what he wanted to say or what to say about her earlier outburst.

“You wanted to talk to me, so talk,” she said tersely, crossing her arms and staring him down, unwilling to give him another inch until she knew what he was going for. He immediately destroyed all her expectations.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, his voice laced with concern. It turned out that was all it took to get her going.

“Am I okay? Am _I_ okay?!” she sputtered. “I clawed you and cut you and you ask if I’m okay? You don’t even want to see me again and all you can ask if I’m okay? I’m not the one who got hurt, Hiro!”

“Aren’t you?” he asked, just as quietly as before, silencing her outburst as easily as he caused it. “Before you left, you looked…afraid. Why were you scared? And why wouldn’t I want to see you again?” She wished she had a way to stop his words from cutting her to the bone but could do nothing against his pointed questions except answer honestly.

“You…pushed me away. You said you didn’t want me,” she said quietly, barely above a murmur.

“Why did that scare you?” he pressed. Why did he have to ask such hard questions?

“I…I don’t…no one ever said that,” she finished, her voice becoming even more timid.

“Said what?”

“That they didn’t want to be with me, to sleep with me. No one ever turned me down. Only you. I…I thought you must hate me,” Hiro sighed for a moment before talking.

“Zero Two, I don’t hate you. You’ve never had someone turn you down? Well I never had someone want to sleep with me at all. Even my last girlfriend never made any move towards it. And…I guess I don’t want to be just another guy that you throw away. You’re more unique than anyone I’ve ever met. Plus, you seem…” his thought died on his lips, not wanting to voice the strange sense of familiarity that accompanied her presence. “Like someone really interesting,” he finished, trying not to focus on how lame that sounded.

Zero Two looked at him, looking for the lie that she thought must be there. There was no way Hiro was being honest with her, was there? If he was like all the other guys, he was just saying that to hold on to her for a moment longer. But…that didn’t make sense, did it? If that had been the case, he wouldn’t have said anything in the first place. Right? Which meant…he was telling the truth? Her mind whirled, trying to make sense of it all. Hiro’s actions didn’t fit with anything any other guy had done. Maybe he really was different.

Hiro, not being privy to her thoughts, was becoming restless as Zero Two stared off into space. Gathering his courage, he dared to break the silence.

“How about this? Let me…take you out to eat tomorrow after classes. After that, if you want nothing to do with me, that’s fine.” Zero Two had broken out of her thoughts, but still wasn’t making eye contact. Hiro sighed. “Please, Zero Two, just give me a chance.” Her mind grabbed hold of his words, fixated on his earnest plea. Before she was really conscious of what she was doing, she heard her voice, far more timid than she’d like, agree.

Hiro’s face lit up at her quiet ‘yes.’ Already, he was formulating plan after plan, determined to find the best one to keep her from running off. He forced himself to calm down. ‘I don’t even know what I’m doing. Plus, she’s clearly has a tough history. Take it slow.’

“How about we meet at the Werner Science Building at 4 then. I know a place nearby that’s really good.” Zero Two didn’t say anything, just stared at the floor before nodding. “Okay…see you tomorrow then,” Hiro said, slightly thrown off by her demure attitude. She just nodded again before backing into her room, closing the door. Their eyes caught for just a moment. The glimpse was enough to betray the happiness in Zero Two’s eyes before the door snapped shut.

Hiro stood there for a few seconds before a feeling of relief swept across him and a smile spread across his face. For better or worse, he had a date with Zero Two. He was walking back to his room when Goro fell into step beside him.

“I’m surprised she agreed,” he said, not even attempting to hide the fact that he had been listening in. “But I’m glad she did.”

“Me too,” Hiro said, the relief evident in his voice. He had been doubtful that Zero Two would even open her door, much less that she would go on a lunch date. His smile widened at the very thought. Goro looked on, not missing the happy expression on his best friend’s face.

‘Dang, he’s got it bad,’ he thought, amused. ‘Well, not like I can really talk,’ the realized wryly. “Congratulations. Where are you going to take her?” he asked.

“I thought I’d take her over to Café 13. It’s close and pretty good.”

“Ooo, romantic.” Hiro shoved the taller boy away even as his cheeks became tinted red. They got back to their room and Hiro puttered about for a minute, putting the book he had been reading back on his desk before something out the window caught his gaze. Someone was positively sprinting towards the dining building, long pink hair fluttering behind them. Hiro watched with surprise as Zero Two ran at what seemed like superhuman speed across the grass until she dashed into the dining hall and out of sight.

* * *

The pink-haired girl ran across the campus, happiness swirling in her chest. She wasn’t used to people asking her to lunch, but the very thought of getting to spend more time with Hiro made her pulse pound. Surely, if he had asked her out, he didn’t hate her. He wouldn’t possibly want to have lunch with someone he hated.

‘But then what does he think of you?’ a small voice whispered to her before she shoved it away. Everything else could wait until after she had eaten. A minute after closing her door, she remembered the original reason for leaving her room. Without a moment of pause, she burst out of her room and ran out of the dorm building towards where she knew there was food. Her stomach growled at her after her inattention for the past few days. She grabbed a plate and began loading it with food, but even then, she was hardly paying attention. Her thoughts were instead on tomorrow and what she could wear.


	4. Chapter 4

Four o’clock the next day couldn’t come faster. Hiro was anxious and twitchy all day, and everyone noticed. During breakfast, his head was on a swivel the entire time, hoping to catch a hint of Zero Two. He never saw her. Through all his classes, he split his time between writing down notes and looking at the clock, counting the minutes. His anxiousness steadily increased as 4 and his date with Zero Two came closer and closer.

On the other hand, it was the most engaged his friends had seen him in months. He laughed at jokes during breakfast and even contributed to the conversation, spoke up in class and hints of his past enthusiasm broke through the shroud that had surrounded him for years. It was subtle, but people noticed.

Hiro didn’t though. He was too busy trying to come up with what he was going to say to Zero Two.

Finally, 3:15 hit and Hiro’s last class let out. He practically ran back to his dorm, ditched his bag, threw on a dark blue shirt that faded to teal towards the top and tried to tame his unruly black hair before deciding he was ready to go. He also still had half an hour until he was supposed to meet Zero Two. He debated between just going over to her room and walking over with her or sticking to his original plan of meeting her there. He was pacing the room, deliberating, when Goro stepped inside.

“Hey, you practically sprinted out of there. You okay?” he asked. Hiro remembered that Goro was in his last class of the day and they usually walked back together.

“No, I’m fine, just…distracted, I guess,” he said. Goro looked at him, noting, not for the first time that day, Hiro’s sudden increase in enthusiasm and energy. Before, for the last few years really, almost nothing got his best friend this excited. It was refreshing and Goro was almost positive of the source of the change.

“Hmmm,” Goro hummed, not betraying his thoughts. He didn’t want to get in the way of what might be the best thing to happen to his friend in a long time. “Well, whatever, there’ll be other days. Anyways, you might as well get going now, you’ll drive me crazy acting like that. Besides, I hear its good manners for they guy to show up to a date early. ‘Don’t keep the lady waiting’ and all that.” Goro grinned as Hiro’s face slowly turned red. “Just don’t overthink it,” he said, clapping the shorter boy on the shoulder before gently shoving him out the door.

Hiro stumbled for a moment before catching his footing and looking back at his friend. “Thanks, Goro,” he said, smiling and walking down the hall to the elevators. Goro watching him go, happy that he was happy. He just hoped this Zero Two knew what she was doing. Because already, he could tell, Hiro was changing because of her. He just hoped it turned out for the better.

Satisfied, he went back to his desk, pulling out his laptop and notes. Even though he was a Biology major, Jian’s curriculum forced him to take Chemistry too, quite possibly one of his least favorite subjects ever. Only a few weeks in and it was already tearing him apart. Resigned to his fate, he forced himself to open his chem book and look over the notes he had taken to try and make sense of them.

He was only a few minutes into his studying when a knock sounded on the door, serving as a blessed distraction. He jerked it open to see Ichigo standing there, looking up at him expectantly. He did his best to speak casually as his pulse sped up.

“Hey Ichigo, what’s up?” She peeked past him, looking into the otherwise empty room.

“Is Hiro here? I wanted to talk to him,” she said, still looking past him. Goro couldn’t help but sigh a little. It was typical for Ichigo to be totally focused on Hiro, a fact that he was all too aware of.

“No, he’s not,” he said, stepping aside to invite her in. “He was meeting someone; they were going to go have lunch. What did you need?” Goro asked, trying to pull Ichigo’s focus from Hiro for at least a moment.

“He’s out with that Zero Two girl, isn’t he?” she asked, her voice full of conflicting emotions. Goro had been hoping to avoid that topic in particular, all too aware of Ichigo’s distaste for the object of Hiro’s attention. “I don’t like her Goro, there’s no way she’s good for Hiro. They’re way too different, she runs around all crazy; plus they’ve hardly known each other for a week. And she’s way too clingy, calling him ‘darling’ like that. She’s trouble, Goro. I think we should do something.”

“Like what?” Goro asked, leaning back in his chair. “And why? Haven’t you seen how different he is? He’s so much brighter, I haven’t seen him like this in years. He actually laughed today. Not just smiled, not just chuckled. Full laughing with a smile on his face. When’s the last time you saw that? Like it or not, Zero Two has brought out something in him in a week that we haven’t been able to in years. Not since…I think we should at least give him a chance to be happy again. Who are we to say we know best for him? If she hurts him, fine. But so far, he’s better than I’ve seen him in years.” He could see Ichigo mulling over his words and for a second, he thought it might have worked. But then the veil came back down.

“I don’t think Hiro knows what’s good for him. He’s too blinded by this girl that he can’t see that she’s not good for him. I can’t just ignore that, even if he can’t see it himself.” Goro shook his head.

“Ichigo, I really don’t think we should get involved. This is between Hiro and Zero Two right now. We shouldn’t stick our noses in their business.” He regretted his words almost immediately as he saw Ichigo shut him down.

“Fine, you don’t want to help me, I’ll protect Hiro myself,” she said angrily, spinning on her heel and stalking out of the room. Goro sighed and rubbed his forehead in distress.

“It’s not Hiro you’re trying to protect, Ichigo,” he said to himself, ruefully turning back to his homework.

* * *

Zero Two was walking across the school campus, heading for where she had agreed to meet Hiro. Despite her initial hesitation, she was actually looking forward to spending more time with him, though she wasn’t sure how to feel about that. ‘I’m just curious. Maybe I can figure out why he acts so differently than other guys,’ she reasoned. Content with her reasoning, she realized she was where Hiro had told her to meet him. Looking around, she quickly spotted him and his shaggy hair sitting on a bench facing away from her. Spying a perfect opportunity to tease him, she snuck up behind him and pressed his head between her breasts, running her fingers through his unruly hair.

“Miss me?” she cooed to him, enjoying the way he startled against her. He turned to face her and immediately pressed his face into her cleavage. Not that she really minded, especially when he flushed that color because of her.

“Z-zero Two!” he exclaimed, fighting to free himself from his somewhat compromising position. Zero Two held him there for a moment, enjoying his closeness, before relenting and letting him pull away. He quickly stood up, putting an unfortunate amount of distance between them. “You came,” he said, the surprise evident on his face along with his adorable, signature blush.

“Of course, I said I would,” she said, spinning around the bench to stand in front of him again. “So where are you taking me for our first date? I hope I’m not overdressed.” She smoothed out the red sundress that she was wearing, cleverly drawing Hiro’s eye to it. The dress, combined with small black boots, black tights, and her signature red headband cut an image that was equal parts cute and alluring. Hiro had to make a significant effort not to stare too much.

“No, no, you look…great, really pretty.”

“Aww, thanks. So where are we going?”

“Oh, it’s a café I like to go to with my friends, it’s right across the street,” Hiro said, starting to walk towards the small café. Zero Two quickly caught up with him and walked merrily along side him. Hiro couldn’t help but feel nervous, not wanting to accidentally make Zero Two freak out again.

Zero Two could feel Hiro’s slight discomfort but didn’t really pay it any mind. She was busy watching the people around them, pointing out different groups or individuals that caught her attention. If nothing else, focusing on something else made it easier for Hiro to get more comfortable with the energetic girl walking with him.

It only took a few minutes for the couple to get to the café. Zero Two looked around the interior, enjoying the simple but stylish décor and tables for anywhere between one and twelve people.

“Hiro!” came a feminine voice from behind the counter. Zero Two looked to see a woman who was probably in her mid-twenties with an ample figure and long, curly red hair. A nametag with the name ‘Natalie’ was pinned to the front of her shirt. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you yet this year. And who is this young lady?” she asked, setting her eye on Zero Two.

“Hi Nana,” Hiro said, glancing around the mostly empty café. Only a few other people were sitting around, most of them typing away at laptops. “Sorry I haven’t been able to come over until now, I’ve been…busy.” He was hardly going to admit having been borderline stalking the girl standing next to him, especially when she was right there. “And this is Zero Two; she’s my…friend.” The girl in question felt slightly put out at the classification but didn’t dwell on it. It was better than ‘random person’.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Zero Two,” Nana said before looking back at Hiro. “Do you want your usual table? I’m surprised Goro or Ichigo isn’t with you,” she remarked, peeking out the door to confirm the other two weren’t hiding outside. She didn’t miss the nervous look on the face of the short boy in front of her.

“Actually Nana, it’s just the two of us today.” The experienced waitress immediately grasped the situation and grabbed two small menus.

“Oh, how nice. Any particular occasion?” A quick shake of Hiro’s head was all the confirmation she needed. Nana set the two menus on one of the more secluded tables in the café before stepping aside to let the couple sit down. “You want your usual to drink, Hiro?” she asked, very familiar with the boy’s preferences, to which the boy nodded. “And what for you dear?” The pink-haired girl looked over the menu for a minute before finding something.

“A double strawberry sundae with lots of whipped cream, caramel, and sprinkles. And one of those little cherries,” she said, putting her menu down. Nana disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared a minute later with a tall glass filled with ice cream and sugar with a cute cherry on the top and a mug of dark tea.

“There you are, you two. Did you want me to get some food going for you right away?” They both ordered sandwiches, though Zero Two insisted on having a jar of honey be brought to the table, which she promptly poured all over the inside of the bread until it poured out the sides. She dug into it with relish. She didn’t miss Hiro watching her eat with a small smile on his face as he took a large bite of his own sandwich.

“Why do you like sweet things so much?” Hiro asked, looking at the caramel remnants on her glass and the honey on her sandwich. “You always seem to put some sort of sugar on everything.” Zero Two paused her devouring of her sandwich to look at him.

“Have you been paying that much attention to me?” she asked, flirtatious as ever. Hiro blushed, but didn’t look away. Zero Two shrugged, picking her sandwich back up. “I dunno, I just do. Everything tastes better when its sweeter.” To prove her point, she licked a slowly falling drop of honey with her long tongue. “Why do you ask?” It was Hiro’s turn to shrug at her question.

“I guess I just realized I don’t know much about you, other than that you’re…”

“I’m what?”

‘Beautiful, entrancing, tough but innocent, different, familiar’ had been what he was thinking. “…pretty,” he finally said, unable to help the blush that continued to decorate his face.

“Aww, thank you,” Zero Two cooed, reaching across the small table to finger the hair that was about to fall into his eye. “Your hair’s so long. Are you growing it out?”

“Like you can talk,” Hiro laughed, gesturing to her own swaying locks. “But no, I just don’t really like getting it cut. Besides, it’s not like it bothers me having it so long. Though Goro does like to call it ‘shaggy’.”

Zero Two hummed her agreement. “It is kind of shaggy,” she said, running her hand through it one more time before sitting back in her chair. “I like it though. It’s so soft and warm. Plus, it made for a great grip the other night.” She took another large bite of her sandwich, leaving Hiro to sputter at her words.

A minute passed before either of the two said anything. “So where are you from? You just transferred to Jian this year, right? Where were you going to school before that?” Zero Two thought for a moment before answering.

“Well, I was going to Apus U near Cerasus, but they didn’t like me and made me transfer. Not that I cared, it was boring there. Not even any possible candidates. So, they shipped me out over here and are probably hoping I don’t punch any teachers.”

“Wait, you punched a teacher?” Zero Two shrugged.

“She deserved it.”

“She?!”

“She kept telling me to stop fidgeting and I was having a day.”

“So you punched her?!”

“Yep!” she said cheerily.

“What were you even doing that she got mad at you for?” Hiro asked, taking a sip of his tea.

“Feeling my boobs.” Hiro practically spat his drink out.

“Your…why?” he asked incredulously, hastily wiping away the bit of tea that had escaped his mouth at her bluntness.

“They felt weird. I thought they might have been getting bigger,” she said nonchalantly, wiping up some of the leftover caramel on her glass and licking it off her finger. “The professor was kind of a bitch too though, all ‘I’m better than you because I say so.’ I think she deserved it.”

“Clearly,” Hiro said, laughing quietly at her frankness. “So you’re from Cerasus then?” Zero Two shook her head, still fishing out bits of caramel.

“No, I was just there for school. I moved there as soon as I turned 18. I’m from Garden City.”

“Oh, me too!” Hiro said. Maybe that was why she seemed familiar. “Where did you live?”

“East side of the city. An orphanage on Chariot Street.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were an orphan,” Hiro said uncomfortably, not sure if he had hit upon a touchy subject. From Zero Two’s reaction, he didn’t think so.

“It’s fine, it’s been that way my whole life. Showed up on the doorstep, never got adopted, lived there for 18 years, moved our as soon as I could. And now, I can do whatever I want, and no one can tell me differently,” she said dismissively. “Where are you from?” she asked, looking at him through her pink bangs.

“South-west suburb, big apartment building. Goro and Ichigo lived in the same building, and Ikuno, Mitsuru, Futoshi, Zorome, Miku, and Kokoro all lived nearby. We formed our own little gang, always running around the neighborhood, probably terrorizing the place. We’re all about the same age, so we got along well.”

“How old are you?”

“Nineteen. I’m turning twenty in October. You?” he asked, finishing off the rest of his sandwich.

“I don’t really know when my birthday is, part of the whole ‘getting abandoned’ thing. But I like spring, so I just celebrate whenever the cherry blossoms bloom. But I’m twenty already. Guess I’m older than you,” she said mischievously. “Hope that’s not too terrible for you.”

“Of course not, I don’t really care.”

“Hmm, that’s good. For some guys, girls older than them make them uncomfortable.” She suddenly dropped her voice. “For some it’s even better though,” she half-whispered. Once again, heat rose to Hiro’s cheeks. ‘She is just relentless,’ he thought, slightly nervous but far from uncomfortable. Something about her just put him at ease.

“Actually, I’ve been wondering, what’s up with your headband? I’ve never seen you not wearing it. Other than…that first morning,” Hiro said. He trailed off at the end, still not entirely comfortable with what had happened when they first met. Zero Two hesitantly reached up to finger the red crystalline points nestled in her hair.

“It…was a gift. From a long time ago,” she said quietly, melancholy tinging her voice. “I made a promise to someone. Someone important. It’s a reminder, for when I find them again.” Hiro could hear the longing in her voice as she spoke. It seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place why.

“That’s really nice. I hope you find them again,” he said, looking away from the intense stare Zero Two was watching him with. There was a long pause before she looked away as well.

“So do I.”

For the rest of their lunch, Zero Two and Hiro both steered away from heavier topics, instead taking turns asking questions like their favorite colors (dark blue and cyan), preferred music (rock and jazz), favorite sport (neither one really watched or played sports), best friend growing up (the mystery person from before and Ichigo), favorite food (candy and watermelon), and the craziest thing they’d ever done (got into a fistfight with three guys and won and jumping off a bridge into a lake).

“Okay, my turn,” Zero Two said, the two of them walking down the street. They had left the café a while before and were now walking aimlessly around campus. “What…is your major? I saw that book you were reading the other day, it didn’t look like casual reading,” she asked, balancing on the half-wall next to the sidewalk.

“Yeah, not exactly. I’m a philosophy major and that was one of the books my professor assigned. We don’t have to read the whole thing, thank goodness, but she didn’t seem to cut out all that much of it.”

“I wouldn’t have figured you for a thinker,” Zero Two said cheerily, hopping back down onto the path. “I would have guessed music or English.”

Hiro gave a short laugh. “No way! I can’t keep a tune to save my life. My parents tried to get me to learn the piano when I was little, but I was so terrible my teacher practically called me a lost cause. And I guess I’m decent at writing but wouldn’t want to major in it.”

“Why philosophy then?”

“…I guess I just liked asking questions. For a while when I was little, I never really stopped. And when people inevitably didn’t have an answer, I just started thinking about it myself, trying to answer my own questions with answers that would satisfy me.”

“That’s…” ‘Just what he would have said,’ she thought. “Commendable.”

“Thanks,” Hiro said with a quick smile. “Though I’m not really sure if I’m so set on it anymore.” Before Zero Two could ask what he meant, he pushed on. “What about you? What’s your major?”

“Dunno. I have a good memory, so school isn’t really hard, but I don’t really have anything I want to do. Not right now at least.”

“Really? No interests, nothing you can see yourself doing in the future?”

“It’s just not a priority right now,” Zero Two said.

“What is then?” Zero Two said nothing for a moment before answering.

“I’m looking for someone. The person I made that promise with when I was little. But he disappeared, so now I’m looking for him, I guess. Or just someone maybe. I guess I don’t really know,” she said hesitantly, suddenly unsure of exactly what she had been looking for. Doubt was steadily creeping up on her when she felt a warm hand meet her own.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll know it when you see it. You seem like the kind of person to find what they’re looking for, no matter what. In a way, I kind of envy that.” Hiro paused. “Sometimes I feel like I’m walking in the dark with no idea where I’m supposed to be going. Just going through the motions. You have a goal, Zero Two, that’s at least a starting point.” They lapsed into an uncertain silence, both of them thinking about the other’s words as they walked.

They kept wandering around, chatting aimlessly when Hiro suddenly noticed Ikuno, Kokoro, and Mitsuru walking across the courtyard ahead of them. Kokoro saw them and waved. Mitsuru glanced over, only to turn away with a sour look on his face and walk faster away from them. Kokoro seemed annoyed but didn’t chase after him.

“There you are Hiro. We were wondering where you went,” Kokoro said.

“Oh, I decided to hang out with Zero Two today. Didn’t Goro tell you?” Hiro asked, figuring word would have gone around quickly as to how exactly he was spending his afternoon.

“No,” she said, sneaking a glance at his and Zero Two’s clasped hands. “He just said you were busy and wasn’t sure where you were.”

“Huh,” Hiro responded, unsure as to why Goro wouldn’t say anything. He quickly put it out of his mind. “Oh, I suppose you haven’t really met officially, have you? Zero Two, this is Kokoro Geni and Ikuno Loro, my friends from when we were kids. Ikuno, Kokoro, this is Zero Two.” Zero Two nodded, vaguely remembering seeing them when she had crashed their breakfast.

“Don’t worry Hiro, we know who she is. She’s very...distinctive,” Ikuno said in her usual, rather flat tone of voice. “We were going to go study, Zorome’s coming soon. Want to join us?” she asked bluntly.

Kokoro was quick to step in. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. You two look like you’re having a good time.”

“What makes you say that?” Hiro asked. Kokoro smiled a little wider.

“You’re both smiling and holding hands.” The two quickly dropped their linked hands to their sides, slightly embarrassed at being caught.

“I’ve actually got stuff to do before it gets too late,” Zero Two said. She turned to Hiro to kiss him goodbye but remembered what he had said the day before. Plus, she had more meaningful conversations with Hiro in the last few hours than she had with anyone in the last couple years entirely. She wasn’t so sure what she was feeling at this point. Forced to make a decision, she opted to hug him instead. “Thanks for taking me out, I had a really good time. You going to go to that party on Saturday?” Hiro had no idea what party it was but knew he could figure it out from Miku.

“Maybe. Are you going to go?” he asked. Zero Two smiled coyly over her shoulder.

“Maybe I’ll see you there. Bye!” She skipped away, bouncing merrily down the sidewalk. Hiro watched her go, not turning away until she was out of sight. Kokoro giggled slightly and Ikuno rolled her eyes.

“You’re ridiculous, Kokoro,” she said, resuming her walk towards one of the student lounges.

“Aw, come on, I thought it was cute,” Kokoro said, following Ikuno with Hiro close behind.

“Can you please not?” he asked, still embarrassed.

“You remember all the grief you guys all gave me and Mitsuru when we got together?” Kokoro asked, to which Hiro could only nod. The two of them had danced around each other for years before finally starting to officially date. Kokoro smiled sweetly, though it didn’t look so sweet now. “This is just a bit of payback. Besides, I can tell you really like her.” Hiro blushed again and nodded reluctantly.

“Yeah, she’s a really interesting person. Something about her…” he trailed off, not entirely sure what he was feeling.

“That’s just what I thought about Mitsuru,” Kokoro said cheerily, her smile widening further as they spotted Mitsuru sitting at a large table, already hard at work behind a laptop. Hiro, however, was lost in his own thoughts.

“Maybe…” he muttered, absently sitting down at the table and pulling out his phone. He borrowed a piece of paper and pencil from Ikuno, who always had spares, and started to formulate an essay he had just been assigned. The whole time he was glancing at the new contact number that had been added to his phone only an hour earlier, trying to at least get an idea of what he was feeling.

Lying in bed hours later, he still had no idea.


	5. Chapter 5

Hiro asked Miku about the party Zero Two mentioned the next day. Being all knowing about all things involving parties, she was quick with an answer.

“Well, I’ve heard of a few going on Friday night. There’s even a group of people who are planning on hanging out in one of the parks and seeing how long it takes before someone calls the cops,” she said, chuckling at the audacity of the idea. Hiro smiled, but was still waiting for the real answer. “Saturday there’s a couple going on, but the biggest is supposed to be down at the Glimbaugh brothers’ house. I was planning on going, and I think Zorome and Futoshi were going with some of their friends too. Why, are you actually planning on going to a party without any of us dragging you along?” Miku asked, surprised.

“I’m thinking about it,” Hiro said, not quite keeping eye contact for fear he’d reveal his desire to see Zero Two again and be the subject of further teasing. Unfortunately, Miku was quick to catch on.

“Hmmm, maybe there’s a reason you want to go. A certain someone maybe?” she said with a sly look on her face. Hiro sighed, knowing he was found out, but refused to say anything other than a quick thanks before leaving Miku to her scheming. Zorome walked up to Miku, munching on an apple.

“Whazat ‘bout?” he asked, bits of juice jumping from his mouth. Miku jerked away from him, shooting him a disgusted look.

“Gross,” she muttered, walking away quickly. Zorome chased after her, not knowing what he had done to tick her off this time.

* * *

Once again, Hiro didn’t see Zero Two at all over the next few days. The closest he got was hearing her door close just as he was leaving his room, but she must have been coming back, because the common room was empty when he rushed into it. He mentally scolded himself for being so distracted by her, but he couldn’t bring himself to really care. He still didn’t know what he really thought of her, but he was determined to find out.

Finally, Saturday came, and Hiro rose with the sun as usual. His friends never ceased to make fun of him for waking up early on the weekends when he didn’t even have anything to do, but he didn’t particularly care. He enjoyed the quiet of the morning when everyone else was sleeping. Plus, he got to see some fantastic sunrises and read a lot of books uninterrupted that way.

Making a cup of tea for himself, he settled into one of the plush chairs in the dorm common room, sipping at the hot liquid and paging through his latest science fiction novel, this one about a boy from an underground village that found a buried robot and ended up in space fighting to save the universe.

‘Not for me, thanks,’ Hiro thought as the hours ticked past, people coming and going as they woke up, chatted with each other, and drank their morning coffee. It was nearing noon and the end of his book when he heard a door slam shut and saw a pink head of hair out of the corner of his eye. He immediately jumped up, joints popping in protest of the sudden movement.

“Zero Two!” Hiro called, causing the young woman to look at him, sleep still heavy in her eyes.

Zero Two heard his call through her tiredness, but quickly turned away, saying something about seeing him tonight as she hurried into the elevator. The doors shut, cutting her off from Hiro. It wasn’t that she really wanted to avoid him, she rationalized, she just didn’t want him to see her so disheveled. She had only just woken up when she realized the food court would soon be switching over to lunch food, and she desperately needed a stack of pancakes with honey and whipped cream, not leaving her any time to really dress properly or fix her hair more than tying it back. She didn’t really know why she cared about how she looked in front of Hiro, but she did. She tried not to let it bother her, instead focusing on her breakfast.

Meanwhile, Hiro was left confused in the common room. Zero Two had definitely recognized him, she had even said she’d see him tonight, but otherwise hadn’t really acknowledged him. Hiro wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt but was still a little hurt that she hadn’t stopped to talk to him. It seemed she was flighty at the best of times, and Wednesday afternoon might have been a fluke, or at least out of character for her.

Unable to quiet his thoughts, Hiro scooped up his book and went back to his and Goro’s room. The other boy was sitting at his desk, working on something on his computer. He glanced at his roommate before fully turning to look at him.

“Let me guess, Zero Two again?” he said, recognizing the look on his long-time friend’s face that was showing up more and more.

“I guess,” Hiro said, sitting down on his bed, absently riffling through the pages of his book. Goro didn’t bother pressing him further, knowing his friend would talk if he wanted to.

“I just saw her in the common room, but she barely said a word to me,” Hiro finally said. “She just left right away, like we barely knew each other.”

“To be fair, that’s kind of how it is,” Goro said, bringing Hiro’s gaze up to his own. “You met barely a week ago and have hardly seen each other since then. You don’t really know what kind of person she is.” Hiro pondered this, not saying anything as the gears in his mind tried to solve his problem. “Look, if you’re that concerned about it, just ask her tonight. You said she was going to be at that party, right?” A short nod. “Then just wait until then and ask her. There’s no use in worrying about something you can’t do anything about, right?”

“Right,” Hiro said quietly, not sounding entirely convinced, but it seemed to be enough to pull him out of his thoughts a bit. Goro knew that was something that happened all too often, Hiro disappearing into his mind for hours at a time. Knowing Hiro couldn’t recognize what he felt yet, Goro felt he had to keep him from delving too deeply into it. He’d figure it out eventually, just not yet.

The day passed, and before Hiro knew it, dusk had almost completely fallen. He nervously got ready to go over to the party, which had likely already started, not really sure what to expect. Would he be able to find Zero Two? Would they talk, or would the night take the same turn it had last time?

“Have a good time,” Goro said, looking up from his phone briefly to see his friend off.

“Thanks,” Hiro said quickly, shutting the door behind him.

It wasn’t exactly a long walk to the house party, only about ten or fifteen minutes, but the steps seemed to drag to Hiro. Whether it was out of trepidation or something else, he didn’t know, but when he heard the music blasting from the house when he reached it, he still didn’t feel ready. Feeling horribly out of place, he slipped into the house.

It was a big place, at least for a college house, making it easy to see why a party was hosted there. An impromptu dance floor had been formed between the dining room and the living room, a large pair of speakers set up in the latter being the source of the loud pop music. Hiro delved deeper, snagging a cup of mild alcohol along the way, not wanting to appear as out of place as he felt. He wandered around for a while, eventually ending up in the backyard. He looked around, hoping to see Zero Two’s distinctive headband and pink hair among the crowd of college kids, but had no such luck. He kept roaming, determined to find the young woman.

He had almost made a full two laps through the party when he caught a glimpse of familiar pink in a side room, a small den from the looks of it. A couple small groups of friends were sitting inside, chatting away from the main noise of the party, but the only person Hiro recognized was the object of his search, sitting on a chair on the far side of the room.

More specifically, sitting on the lap of a handsome man, looking at him and laughing at something he said. Her hand, the same hand he had held in his own only a few days before, came up to rest in the middle of the man’s chest, a teasing smile on Zero Two’s face. Hiro stared at them, caught completely unprepared for the sight, when the pink hair girl’s teal eyes met his own blue. Hiro quickly broke their gaze and walked away, leaving his half empty cup forgotten.

He walked without thinking, ending up in the backyard again, sitting on a railing and trying to understand what was going on. He felt…betrayed, though he was sure he didn’t have any reason to. Ichigo had warned him, told him time and again that Zero Two was with a different guy at every party. Zero Two had even told him herself in a fit of emotion. So why was he surprised? Did he think of himself as different? Did he really think he was anything more than a passing fancy for her?

Hiro turned the thoughts over and over in his head when a pair of arms landed on the railing next to him. He glanced over to see another guy, maybe a little older than him, leaning against the railing.

“Sweet party, right?” the other boy said, twisting a cup in his hands. Hiro looked away, looking for the first time at the crowds of people in the backyard. Someone had lit a fire in a firepit as the gloom of night descended and people were slowly gathering around it.

“Yeah, I guess,” Hiro said disinterestedly. The other guy looked at him more closely, the tone in his voice not missed.

“Uh oh, sounds like girl trouble,” he said with a slightly drunken smile.

“Something like that,” Hiro said, happy at least for a moment to have someone understand what he was thinking, even if he didn’t himself. The guy shook his head.

“I’ve been where you are, bro. Girl’s done something crazy again, you don’t know what to think of it. Just an adorable quirk, a weird phrase, or something else? Take my word for it dude, thinking about isn’t going to do you any good. Better to just face it head on. Go ask her what the hell she meant. It’s gonna save you a massive headache.” Hiro pondered the man’s words, turning them over in his head, before realizing he was doing the exact opposite of what he was saying. Hiro threw it all out and decided to just do something.

“Thanks, I think you’re right.” The guy nodded, took another swig of his drink, and turned to rejoin the party. “Hey!” Hiro called after him, making the guy stop. “Have you seen a girl with pink hair around at all?”

The man thought a minute before answering. “Oh yeah, her. I think I just saw her leaving. Looked like she was done for the night.” Hiro immediately rushed past him, calling his thanks over his shoulder as he rushed out of the house, looking both ways down the street and, not seeing anything resembling Zero Two, started off back towards campus. He purposefully didn’t think as he walked, instead focusing on finding Zero Two.

He rounded a corner, walking quickly, and saw a familiar head of hair ahead of him. She was walking slowly, and Hiro would have no trouble catching up to her. He was only a half block behind her when he saw Zero Two fall to her hands and knees next to the sidewalk and throw up into the grass. Worry immediately crashed over him and he broke out into a run toward her.

“Zero Two! Zero Two, are you okay?” he yelled, causing Zero Two to turn to look at him, a thousand emotions twisting in her eyes.

“Hiro?”

* * *

Zero Two had been having a great time at the party, any thoughts of her feelings lost in the familiar haze of music, drinking, and flirting. She had already found a target for the night, sitting and laughing with him in the usual way, dutifully ignoring the feeling that something was missing about it. Her laughter felt more forced than usual, and she found herself putting moves on him sooner than she usually would, desperate for distraction. She had just put her hand on his chest after laughing at some asinine joke when she turned her head and saw him.

He was gone a moment later, making her question if she had even seen him at all, but an abandoned cup told her that she hadn’t been mistaken.

“What’s wrong, darlin’?” the man who’s lap she was sitting on asked. She turned back to look at him, an uneasiness suddenly appearing at his words. ‘Darling’ echoed in her brain, reminding her of a sleeping young man, a wide smile, and tangled black hair. The echo grew until it was pounding against her skull, making her slightly nauseous. She abruptly stood up, shoving the man’s arm off her waist, spilling his drink in the process. His exclamation of surprise didn’t even register to Zero Two, who was frantically looking for somewhere with more air. She saw the front door open and rushed towards it, desperately inhaling the cooling night air. Her headache redoubled and her stomach churned, nearly making her vomit into the grass. She barely kept it down and managed to recover slightly.

Once she was sure she wasn’t in danger of throwing up on her shoes, she steadied herself against the house. Her stomach still felt uneasy and only became worse when she considered going back inside. She had to force her bile down at the thought of the man she had just been all over, his very existence suddenly a source of disgust. With no other option presenting itself to her, Zero Two stumbled away from the house and started walking back towards the school, her hands resting on her still pounding head and rolling stomach.

She walked slowly, periodically having to focus very hard on keeping the contents of her stomach down. She had never felt like this, never felt her guts clench at a single word.

Darling.

It still echoed in her mind, filling the space between her ears with its syllables. It was what she had always called the men she was with, and sometimes what they had called her, but it had never felt so wrong. The way that guy had said it was…insincere, casual. That wasn’t what it meant. If there was one thing the old man at the orphanage she grew up in had pounded into her head, it was that words carried a weight to them. It was only now that she actually felt that weight. Memories of all the times she had called someone her darling flashed through her mind. The torrent became stronger and stronger, pushing at the borders of her mind, until she was overwhelmed, and the pounding became too much for force.

Falling to her knees next to the sidewalk, the alcohol finally came up, burning her throat along with the meager contents of her stomach. She kneeled there, retching, when she heard a voice calling that name to her, one only a few people knew.

She turned her head and saw him running towards her, concern evident in his eyes.

“Hiro?” she asked breathlessly. A moment later, her stomach heaved again, and she began to throw up again. She expected Hiro to look at her with pity, but he dropped down next to her and put his warm hand on her back, rubbing it soothingly. Spittle dripped from her open lips when she was done, quickly wiped away with a fallen leaf.

“Zero Two, are you okay? You look terrible,” Hiro said from beside her. She didn’t doubt his words, tears having leaked from her eyes from the intensity of her vomiting. They seemed to still be dripping out, but she was sure they’d stop soon. Her hair was frazzled too, probably a mess. Regardless, she pushed herself upright and away from Hiro, her chest aching.

“I’m fine, you should go back to the party,” she said, trying to resume her walk towards campus. She felt lightheaded almost immediately, only prevented from falling by Hiro catching her in deceptively strong arms.

“You’re clearly not fine,” he said, letting her hang on his shoulders. “I’m taking you back to your room, you shouldn’t be going anywhere like this, much less alone.” Zero Two still couldn’t accept that.

“No, I don’t want to ruin your night. Go back to the party, have fuoohhhh…,” she tried to insist, trailing off into a groan as her stomach revolted against her again. Hiro shook his head, shifting more of her weight onto his shoulder.

“It’s fine. I was only there looking for you anyways.” She was shocked into silence, which gave Hiro enough time to start dragging her towards campus. She had no choice but to lean on him and try to keep her feet under herself through the incessant pounding of her head.

Before she realized it, Zero Two was slumped against the wall of the elevator as it rose to the fourth floor of their dorm. Her headache had worsened slightly, and her mouth tasted like bile. “Almost there, Zero Two,” Hiro mumbled. “Just a minute longer.” He hauled her up again, both of them stumbling out of the elevator and taking a quick left. Zero Two’s door was the first one down the hallway and they reached it quickly.

“Where’s your key?” he asked, looking at her properly for the first time that night. She was wearing a clinging, dark green dress that complimented her eyes wonderfully. Hiro quickly reprimanded himself for looking at her like that when she was clearly in pain.

“It’s…not locked…” Zero Two gasped out, shoving the door open to her room open.

‘Figures,’ Hiro thought before letting her drop onto her bed. Zero Two clutched her head lightly, the short drop not helping her headache.

“Water,” she groaned, lifting herself slightly off the bed.

“I’ll get you some,” Hiro said quietly. “Just stay here, okay?” He waited until he got a small nod from her before he left the room and hurried to the communal kitchen and filled a glass of water. He came back just as Zero Two pulled her dress over her head and tossed it to the ground, leaving her in her underwear. Hiro quickly looked away, a furious blush rising to his face. Luckily, Zero Two either didn’t notice or wasn’t in a teasing mood. She just pulled on a loose shirt and slumped on the bed.

“Here, drink this. Slowly.” Hiro gave her the water and helped her drink it in small sips. Drinking it too quickly would only make her stomach worse. She still finished it quickly and let Hiro push her down so she was laying on the large bed.

“So forceful…” she said weakly, trying to tease him, but was only rewarded with more pain from her head.

“Just sleep, okay? You’re probably a mix of drunk and hungover. It’s probably not going to be any better tomorrow. You need to rest.” Hiro covered her with a blanket, making sure she was tucked in properly. He could already see her eyes drooping. He made to leave when her cold hand caught his own.

“Please stay,” he heard her ask in a tiny voice, so completely unlike how she normally was. She looked so pitiful to him, bundled up into her bed, teal eyes pleading with him, pink hair splayed out beneath her with her arm stretched towards his own. Hiro’s heart burned and he couldn’t bear to leave her. Tugging a chair over to the bedside, he sat in it, still holding the girl’s hand. He settled in and Zero Two relaxed, sleep quickly closing in on her.

“Thank you…….Darling…” she mumbled, eyes sliding shut as exhaustion took her and she felt at peace for the first time in days. Her fingers relaxed, but Hiro didn’t let them go. He sat at her bedside as she breathed quietly, entranced by her quiet beauty. He gave up on going back to his room that night, instead vowing that he’d be there for Zero Two if she needed anything.

Half an hour later, he was slumped over next to her, soundly asleep, their fingers still intertwined.


	6. Chapter 6

Hiro woke up the next morning, immediately realizing he was not in his own room. For one, he wouldn’t have slept in such an uncomfortable position if he had access to his bed. As for the second reason, he knew his room didn’t smell like a girl and their unique soft fragrance.

He slowly pushed himself up off the bed, joints creaking as they shifted for the first time in hours. He blearily wiped his eyes with one hand, not remembering falling asleep. His other hand was still trapped in Zero Two’s tight grip, though he could only feel it, not see it, his hand having been pulled under the covers. He felt a distinct source of warmth on the back of his hand and tried not to think about where it was coming from, through from where Hiro’s arm disappeared under the blankets, he guessed it was somewhere on her chest. He didn’t dare consider any further than that.

Not that he didn’t have other things to consider. Sometime during the night, Zero Two had stuck one of her legs out from under the covers, leaving from her toes to her thigh exposed. Hiro did his best not to stare at the creamy smooth flesh for long, but it, just like every other part of Zero Two, entranced him beyond belief. Eventually, he managed to look at her face, barely peeking out from under her blanket. She was as beautiful as she had looked the night before. Hiro contented himself with watching over her until she woke up, which didn’t take long.

“Mmph. Mmmm…” she mumbled as she slowly woke up. She tugged his hand up to her mouth and slipped her tongue out, tasting his skin, warm from her chest. “Hmm, Darling…” she cooed quietly. Then she got a taste of her own mouth and quickly woke up. “Mmm, bleh, that’s so gross,” she grumbled, sitting up and wiping the sleep out of her eyes. Hiro’s eyes were immediately drawn to where his hand had been resting. Her shirt had fallen down on one shoulder, leaving the upper slope of one of her breasts exposed, the hem just barely covering her nipple. He couldn’t help but stare a moment before remembering himself and looking away.

Zero Two dragged herself out of bed, pulling a toothbrush out of somewhere and started walking towards the door, only stopping when her and Hiro’s arms pulled at each other. She looked at their entwined hands for a moment before realizing what was wrong. She slowly and reluctantly let go of his hand, their fingers stiff after being locked together all night.

“Stay here,” she croaked. “I’ll be right back.” She quickly shut the door, leaving Hiro alone in her room. He looked around, taking in the slightly messy room, discarded clothes scattered around the laundry bin she had sitting in the corner, clearly thrown in that direction with less than perfect accuracy. With nothing else to do, he walked over and started picking up shirts and pants to toss in the bin. He absently realized it was 6 in the morning, earlier than even he usually woke up. He blamed it on his uncomfortable sleeping situation.

The door of the room opened just as Hiro was picking up the last of the clothes. Zero Two leaned against the door, somehow still looking incredible with bedhead and a too big shirt.

“I guess you really are a pervert, Darling,” Zero Two said quietly, clearly still tired as she leaned on the wood. Hiro didn’t understand what she meant until he looked down and saw the last article of clothing he was holding was one of her bras, and a lacy one at that. He quickly tossed it in the basket, face igniting into crimson.

“I was just-“ he tried to explain, but was quickly cut off.

“It’s fine, I don’t really care,” Zero Two said, shutting the door again and stumbling back over to the bed. She collapsed back into it. “Thank you for taking care of me, Darling. You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“Sure I did,” Hiro immediately said. He blushed again and itched his neck uncomfortably. “I mean, I couldn’t just leave you there like that.”

“No, I suppose you couldn’t,” she said wistfully, settling back under the covers. She held one of the edges up, looking at Hiro expectantly. “Well, come on. You couldn’t have slept well in that chair all night. It’s still early enough to get some more sleep.”

“Is that really okay?” Hiro asked hesitantly, unsure of what he should do. He was still tired, a bed would feel nice, and he didn’t really want to leave Zero Two yet, but sleeping in the same bed as her seemed a step too far. “I don’t want you to feel like I’m forcing you to do anything.” Zero Two huffed a little.

“Come on Darling, we’ve done the same thing with far fewer clothes involved. There’s no reason to be shy.” Hiro scooted a little closer, which was all Zero Two needed to grab hold of him and tug him into the bed. She kicked his shoes off his feet and pulled him under the covers. “Besides, you’re my Darling. You’re the one person who is absolutely allowed to do this with me.” She started to snuggle into his chest.

“Just for the day though?” Hiro asked, remembering what she had said their first night together. Zero Two froze and looked up at him, scanning his face for a moment before relaxing again.

“No, from now on, you’re my only Darling. No one else will be,” she said quietly. Hiro could tell she was sincere and slowly wrapped his arms around her, making her jump a little before she smiled and snuggled in closer.

“Well, if we’re dating, I guess there’s nothing wrong with it,” Hiro said, which Zero Two quickly agreed to. She wasn’t sure if ‘dating’ was all she felt towards her darling, but if that satisfied him, she wasn’t going to complain one bit. She snuggled him again but couldn’t quite get comfortable. Annoyed, she pulled his t-shirt over his head, leaving him bare-chested. Hiro sputtered weakly, but his protests died once Zero Two laid her head on his shoulder, their warmth leaking into each other.

Her breasts squished against his side and her leg draped over his own, but Hiro couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy her physical closeness. Zero Two inhaled deeply and sighed happily, glad to have Hiro back in her arms. Hiro did the same, smelling the sweet scent he now recognized as hers. Holding her a little tighter, he slipped back to sleep slowly, not knowing if he was already dreaming when Zero Two stretched up and kissed him on the jaw.

* * *

Goro woke up at 8:30, earlier than he might have liked on a Sunday, but he got up, knowing he likely wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep with the morning light shining into his and Hiro’s room. He glanced at his roommate’s bed and was unsurprised to see the covers hadn’t been moved since last night.

“As I guessed,” he thought to himself, pulling on fresh slacks and a polo before wandering out to the common room. A few people were scattered around, most notably Ichigo looking very much not awake and sipping at a cup of coffee. Goro poured himself a cup, adding a liberal amount of cream, and joined her.

“Morning Goro,” she said huskily. Goro couldn’t keep his heart from briefly skipping a beat, but he ignored it.

“Good morning, Ichigo. Just got up?” he asked, getting a quick nod from the young woman in return.

“Is Hiro in your room? I haven’t seen him yet today.” Goro smiled thinly, knowing she wouldn’t like the answer but owing it to her all the same.

“No, he’s not there. Didn’t sleep there last night either.”

“Huh? Well, where is he? Aren’t you concerned?” Ichigo was immediately on alert, as she always was when it came to Hiro. Goro shrugged.

“No, I know where he is. If he didn’t sleep in his room, there’s only one other place he’d be. I’m sure they’re fine.”

“They?” Ichigo said, confused. It only took a moment for everything to click. “He’s with that girl, isn’t he?” Goro shrugged again.

“I can only assume so. He went to a party last night with the sole purpose of finding her and sorting things out with her. If he didn’t come back to our room, I can only assume it all worked out.”

Ichigo was practically shaking. “I-If he’s with her, then they’re…” She quickly stood up and started walking down the girls’ hallway. She pushed the first door open and froze. Goro rushed after her and saw why.

Zero Two and Hiro were both laying in bed in each other’s arms, sound asleep with small smiles on their faces. Goro saw his friend’s discarded shirt and shoes, but nothing else and assumed nothing really happened. Ichigo, on the other hand, seemed completely stunned, watching the couple sleep. Hiro shifted slightly, turning his head into Zero Two’s and breathed deeply, his smile twitching slightly upwards. Not seeing the need to loiter, Goro gently pulled Ichigo out of the room and eased the door shut.

The moment the door clicked shut, Ichigo wandered back towards her coffee, eyes unfocused. Goro trailed after her, not wanting to step on any triggers that might make the slim girl explode. The young woman stared at her cooling drink, unable to reconcile what she had seen.

“Why is he clinging to her? She doesn’t actually care for him. She just wants to use him. He’s too good for her. He’s kind, caring, soft-spoken, smart, witty when he wants to be. She’s…she’s a floozy, bitchy, cruel, uncaring, spiteful two-bit whore! She doesn’t deserve him!”

“And you do?” Goro said quietly, knowing he might make Ichigo hate him with the suggestion. The blue-haired girl glared at her long-time friend.

“I’m not saying that. I’m saying Hiro deserves better than some tramp that will leave him as soon as better prey comes along! She doesn’t get to have Hiro!”

“That’s not your choice.” Goro and Ichigo turned to see Zero Two standing there in an oversized shirt, holding an empty glass, fury burning in Ichigo’s eyes.

“Sure, you think you can say anything when you just had sex with him again,” the short girl said with venom. “He’s not some toy for you to play with and throw away like the bratty child you are.”

“I know that,” Zero Two said with a deadpan voice. “Darling and I decided this morning that we were going to be together properly. And I didn’t sleep with him again.”

“Then how do you explain him sleeping in your bed with you wrapped around him like a leech?” Ichigo shot back, her anger not abated in the slightest.

“He followed me home from a party last night. I was drunk and throwing up a few blocks away from school. He pulled me back here, helped clean me up, and slept in a chair all night. He didn’t sleep well, so I dragged him back to bed so he could sleep properly when I woke up this morning.” Her eyes misted slightly, and a small smile appeared on her face. “He refused to leave me alone, even when I told him to.”

“Of course he did, that’s who Hiro is,” Ichigo said, still glaring at the taller girl, who shook her head.

“No, you don’t get it.” She finished filling her glass with water and turned to leave.

“What don’t I get, Iota?!” Ichigo yelled after her, making the pink-haired woman freeze. “That’s right, I know your real name. I don’t know why you bother to go by something as stupid as ‘Zero Two’ anyways.” Zero Two slowly turned to look at the other young woman, her eyes dead cold.

“Don’t use that name. I hate that name,” she said quietly, her eyes practically glowing with a silent threat. “I was terrible to him, you know. I used him, teased him, led him on, and then tried to drop him. He caught me, and I was repulsed by myself. He found me crouched in the grass, vomiting, and ran to help. He went to that party to find me, and I was hanging off another man’s arm. And this morning, he acted like it hadn’t happened. He is kind and forgiving, understanding and grounding. I was so alone before I ran into him, and he instantly changed my life. I was miserable and thanks to him, now I can try to be a little happier. Because of him. That’s who he is, you jealous bitch. And he chose me.” Zero Two walked off without another word, disappearing down the hallway. They heard her door open and shut again before Ichigo began physically shaking with rage.

“She…how can she…that…who does she think she is?!” Ichigo growled, her voice rising until she was practically yelling. “I ought to go-“

“Don’t,” Goro said sadly, holding the short girl back. She spun around to face him.

“Why not? Why shouldn’t I? What is so special about her?!”

“Because she’s just as broken as Hiro.” Goro’s words finally shut Ichigo up, shocking her. “Do you know what Hiro talks to me about?” Goro asked quietly. Ichigo shook her head.

“Well, that’s the thing. For years, it’s nothing. He doesn’t talk about it. Not about the accident, not about his mom, not about his dad, not about what he wants, not about how he feels. We haven’t had a meaningful conversation in literal years. Until a week ago when he met Zero Two.”

“That’s not her name-“ Ichigo tried to interrupt, but Goro cut her off.

“It doesn’t matter. To Hiro, it is. She made him open up. He did the same thing for her. And I think it’s because they can both see that the other is broken, even if they don’t realize it. They don’t want someone to support them, they want to be the support for someone else. And if they can be that for each other, then I think they should.”

“They’ll just get hurt. Not just Hiro, both of them. They’ll tear each other apart eventually.”

“Maybe,” Goro said thoughtfully. “But that’s life. You make friends, lose them, fall in love, break up. They might end up breaking each other even more. But I think they could change each other for the better. We at least owe it to Hiro to let them try.” He could tell Ichigo didn’t necessarily agree, but he believed what he said. Hiro and Zero Two might be just what the other needed.

* * *

Zero Two eased her door shut, still fuming at her Darling’s friend’s audacity. Calling her by that name and doubting her intentions with Hiro. Maybe before the previous night, she could have had a point. But not anymore. She even had the nerve to disregard Hiro’s kindness towards her as just how he was. Having been on the receiving end of that kindness and compassion, Zero Two knew it was so much more potent than that.

Forcing any thoughts of irritation out of her head, Zero Two walked back over to her bed where her Darling was still sleeping peacefully. Taking a sip from the glass of water, Zero Two carefully slipped back under the covers, nestling her head against his collar bone. Her eyes swept over him, taking in his slim frame, hints of muscles beneath the surface of his skin showing he was more accustomed to writing than weights. Still, she felt comfort in his thin arms like she hadn’t felt in years.

Her feelings only strengthened as her gaze slid to his face, utterly relaxed and peaceful. His pale lips followed the same line as his jaw. His nose flared slightly with every gentle breath. His black hair, which she was beginning to think was just eternally messy, hung down on his forehead and nearly obscured his closed eyes. Zero Two knew that behind those closed lids were orbs of deepest blue, full of caring and selfless kindness. Unable to help herself, she moved in closer, fitting her entire body against his, sniffing and licking at his neck. She loved the way he smelled, a soft musk that was only his, and the taste of his skin was much the same.

She desperately wanted to feel his hands on her body like he had the night they first met. He had been delightful, forceful but far from dominating and overbearing. The taste of his lips resounded in her memory, fueling her desire to taste as much of him as possible. She had yet to find a place on him that tasted as good as his lips had, but she would keep searching. Though maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to get a little refresher. Surely he wouldn’t mind.

Zero Two carefully moved until she was face to face with her sleeping boyfriend. Suddenly apprehensive, she leaned in slowly, eyes fixed on her goal. She was so focused that she didn’t notice Hiro’s eyes slide open. Their lips were only an inch away from each other, their breaths mingling, when Hiro’s moved.

“Zero Two? What are you doing?” he asked, quickly coming back to full consciousness. Zero Two’s aquamarine eyes shot from her target to his own eyes, staring at him like a kid caught in the cookie jar.

“Nothing,” she said, the statement almost sounding like a question instead of a fact. She pulled back, shifting on the bed, forgetting that she was completely pressed against Hiro, something he became immediately aware of. Zero Two couldn’t help but grin teasingly when she felt something pressing against her leg. “Happy to see me, Darling?” she asked, white teeth flashing. Hiro turned crimson and shied away from her.

“Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting…I didn’t…sorry,” he finished, unsure what to say.

“It’s okay Darling, it’s nothing I haven’t felt before. Or would mind feeling again,” she purred, slipping back into her seductive persona, crawling slowly towards him. She knew he could see at least part of her breasts through the wide neck of her shirt judging from how he kept looking at her face, glancing down, and averting his eyes, only to repeat the action. She found it absurdly cute.

“Zero Two, I don’t think we should. I mean, we’re only just starting out properly. We shouldn’t jump into anything,” he said firmly, despite his nervousness. Wanting to respect his wishes, Zero Two relented, sitting back on the bed so they were facing each other.

“Fine. But if you change your mind…” she trailed off, purposely letting her shirt fall off her shoulder, exposing more of her creamy skin to his eyes. She smiled again when he visibly gulped.

“S-sure…” he didn’t sound confident, but Zero Two knew he would warm up to it.

“I should probably get going,” Hiro said, pulling himself out of the sheets and grabbing his shirt off the floor. Zero Two silently mourned as he tugged it back onto himself, covering his slim chest. “Do…you still mean what you said this morning? About me being your…Darling? Your only Darling?” he asked, tugging on his shoes. Zero Two was surprised by the question, thinking they had already settled the matter.

“Of course,” she said immediately. “From now on, you’re my only Darling.”

“So you’re my girlfriend then, right?” Zero Two huffed, slightly annoyed by his persistence.

“Yes, of course I am-“ She was abruptly cut off as Hiro spun and pressed his lips to hers, locking her into a scorching kiss. He broke it a moment later before she could react and immediately made for the door.

“Had to be sure. I’ll see you for dinner, okay? I’ll be in the common room, just come out whenever you want to eat. We can go together,” he said, as if nothing had happened. “Bye Zero Two,” he said, closing the door behind him.

Zero Two stared at where he had disappeared in shock, hardly believing what had just happened. Hiro had kissed her, completely unprompted. Her Darling had kissed her. Her tongue flickered out, finding the lingering taste of him on her lips. That was the real taste of her Darling, the one she’d never be able to find anywhere else. And he had kissed her, with no effort on her part. Which meant he wanted to do it. Which meant he would probably want to do it again. Zero Two found his taste again and fell back on her messy bed, surrounded by his scent and with the taste of his lips on her own. She had to grab a pillow to stifle her overjoyed scream, and even then, some of the noise still escaped. Even better, the pillow she grabbed was the one he had been laying on, letting her directly inhale his quiet scent.

She wasn’t sure how she would manage to wait for tonight. She was hungry now, hungry for more of her new boyfriend.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference, the outfits in this chapter are inspired by these pictures. Feel free to use them to augment your reading experience as you desire.  
> https://i.imgur.com/WoWDPV1.png  
> https://i.imgur.com/OcHRDEI.png  
> https://i.imgur.com/0GekWUR.jpg

Hiro hadn’t really known what to do after he left Zero Two’s room after kissing her. He could barely believe he had kissed her. Just kissed her, no fanfare, no wild lead up, just kissed her because he wanted to, and he could.

If he thought about it, it was probably the first time he had done something like that. He had never been confident enough to really initiate a kiss with his previous girlfriend, instead just going along with whatever she had wanted.

Now, he was conflicted. He knew he had definitely enjoyed it but had no idea if Zero Two had. He had just left afterwards, not staying to see her reaction. Logically, she couldn’t have been opposed to it. She had tried to kiss him multiple times before and even succeeded if his memory of the night they met was reliable. Still, he continued to question and worry about it for the rest of the day until he met Zero Two for dinner.

As soon as she saw him, she burst into a wide smile, dazzling him with her earnest beauty, before running up to him, throwing her arms around him, and locking their lips together. He jerked in surprise, but Zero Two refused to let him go, instead kissing him again with the same amount of enthusiasm. A second later, he gave in, returning Zero Two’s kiss, which made her hum happily, pressing herself more firmly against him.

At some point, Hiro remembered that he had wanted dinner, leading to him gently pulling away from his eager girlfriend, who slowly released him. He also remembered that they were in a somewhat public place. He quickly glanced around the door common room, relieved to see it empty.

“Hello Darling,” Zero Two said quietly, staring him in the eye with fervor in her own. “I missed you.” Hiro had to force himself to remain calm and collected.

“Hi,” he said, not sure what else to do. “Do you want to go eat?”

“Of course,” Zero Two said immediately, dragging him into the elevator. Hiro was quickly catching onto the fact that there was little Zero Two loved more than food. “I’ve been waiting all day for this; I’m starving.” Hiro stopped short at her words.

“Are you saying you haven’t eaten anything all day?” he asked her, to which she immediately shook her head.

“Nope, I wanted to make sure I could eat with you, so I skipped lunch.”

“Zero Two, you can’t do just do that, you need to eat, especially after everything last night and this morning. You must be starving.” Right on cue, her stomach growled audibly, though she just smiled at him.

“It’s sweet that you care, Darling, but I’m okay. Besides, we’re going to eat now, so it doesn’t matter,” she said, trying to gloss over the topic.

Hiro couldn’t let it go though. “No, it does matter. This isn’t the first time you’ve done this either, is it? I remember the other day when I…asked you out…you ran straight for the dining hall afterwards. How many meals did you miss then?” Now Zero Two didn’t make eye contact, instead walking out the opening elevator, trying to escape Hiro’s probing questions.

“I’m fine, Darling, you don’t have to worry about me,” she said, her voice slightly hostile towards him.

“Yes, I do!” Hiro exclaimed, finally raising his voice. “You’re my girlfriend now, and that means I get to worry about you, which includes making sure you’re eating properly. You won’t do yourself any favors by skipping meals.” He could tell he wasn’t making any headway, forcing him to play the card he knew would work and that he had wanted to avoid.

“Look, if you promise to eat three meals every day this week, I promise I’ll do anything you want next weekend.” That got her attention.

“Anything?” she asked lowly, looking at him like she might a juicy piece of meat. Hiro quickly amended his words.

“Okay, no, not anything. I reserve the right to say no to anything too crazy.”

“Aww, you’re no fun. I know you want me, Darling,” Zero Two said teasingly, resuming their walk towards the dining hall. “But something? You promise?”

“I promise,” he said, ignoring the feeling that he was dooming himself with the words. The smile that lit up her face quickly discarded any worries he had.

“Deal. I get to eat tasty food and you’re all mine this weekend. You know, you do the silliest things, Darling,” she said cheerily.

“If it gets you to eat properly, I have no problem with that,” he said, savoring his small victory as Zero Two grabbed his hand and dragged him off towards dinner.

* * *

Tuesday rolled around, and Kokoro was surprised to hear the campus buzzing about Hiro and Zero Two dating. Not that she was surprised that they had gotten together, that had seemed all but inevitable to her. She was more surprised when three of her friends had texted her asking if it was true.

She would have thought Hiro would want to keep their relationship at least somewhat private, given his general timidity. She also knew what kind of reputation Zero Two had. The two factors combined would logically lead to them keeping the fact that they were dating quiet.

Or not, given that they had practically announced it to the student body as they were walking to dinner a few days ago. Since then, people had quietly been discussing it, wondering how the party-oriented, never-to-be-tied down Zero Two had gotten attached to Hiro, a quiet, slightly nerdy nobody.

“What’s so funny?” Mitsuru asked Kokoro as she giggled quietly, the couple walking to their next classes hand in hand.

“Just thinking about Hiro and Zero Two. Seems the whole campus knows about them dating.”

“Yeah, great,” Mitsuru grumbled, letting go of his girlfriend’s hand and shoving his hands in his pockets, his expression darkening.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that,” Kokoro said, pulling on her much taller boyfriend’s arm. “You always have a problem with Hiro. You should stop being mean to him and be happy for him.”

“Happy for him? Happy that something else landed in his lap so that he can throw it away? He’s brilliant but has no aspirations. He’s got all of us for friends but acts like it just him alone. And now, he’s got a hot girlfriend who chose him over literally hundreds of other guys. Mark my words, it won’t be her that screws their relationship up, it’s going to be him. I don’t know how, but he’ll find a way to screw it up. He always does.” Mitsuru stormed off, shoulders hunched and a scowl on his face.

Kokoro couldn’t do anything other than watch him go. She had seen him in enough of his moods to know when he needed time to cool off. He’d come around and be the sweet man she loved again. Still, she couldn’t really understand why he was so annoyed with Hiro. The taller boy used to look up to Hiro when they were younger, until one day they barely associated with each other. Kokoro had tried to figure out why for years, but Mitsuru would never explain his exact reasoning.

Kokoro sighed, resigning to the fact that the mystery of their shattered friendship would be left unanswered. She personally thought Hiro deserved to have Zero Two. They both seemed lonely to her; at least, that was the impression she had gotten from Zero Two the few times they had met. She hoped they could be happy together. And that they never heard about the growing betting pool about when and how they would break up.

* * *

The day he had made his promise to go along with whatever Zero Two wanted on the weekend, Hiro had felt a horrible sense of doom. At the time, he had brushed it off, attributing it to nerves at the most. Now, on a nice Saturday just past noon, being dragged through the mall on the promise of shopping, he was horrified to find that he was right.

“Come on Darling, no dragging behind. You said whatever I wanted, now you’re going to live by that,” Zero Two said, tugging his arm as she made a beeline towards a small store.

“I know, I’m coming,” Hiro groaned, resigned to his fate. Shopping was far from his favorite thing to do, but he supposed it was a good way to spend time with Zero Two away from school, where they tended to have a lot of prying eyes on them, for some reason. Plus, this could be a good way to see her in some cute clothes. Not that the short denim shorts and blue-black shirt that she was wearing, along with her hair tied back and usual headband, wasn’t already cute.

“Ooo, look at those shoes,” she said, stopping to look through a window at a pair of low heels that looked like every other pair of heels to Hiro. Still, he bobbed his head idly, enjoying watching the girl next to him get excited about everything. She dragged him from window to window, brimming with childish excitement, practically running as she zipped around. If it hadn’t been for Hiro holding her back, she probably would have been.

They went into a few stores, Zero Two browsing the racks as Hiro ambled around, looking at whatever interested him. Zero Two seemed to be interested in a little bit of everything, from novelty tees to lacy goth dresses. She would often turn to Hiro to get his opinion on a piece of clothing before criticizing it and putting it back.

“Why don’t you buy anything?” Hiro asked as they left the seventh shop, their hands still free of bags despite the number of things they had looked at. “There must have been something you liked.” Zero Two shrugged noncommittally.

“It’s all fine, just nothing’s jumped out at me yet. Want to eat something?” she asked, rapidly switching gears. Hiro blinked at the sudden change.

“Is it something so sickeningly sweet my dentist would want to die just considering me putting it in my mouth?”

“Come on, you’ll love it,” the pink haired girl said, rushing off towards another area of the mall. Hiro trailed behind, purposefully keeping his gait slow. He had noticed that Zero Two was reluctant to run off without him sometime in the last hour and was making full use of that fact to prevent her from plowing through everything in her path in a fit of sugar-induced madness. It was a scene he could imagine all too easily and was dead set on avoiding.

A few minutes later, Hiro found himself looking at the single largest caramel roll he had ever seen in his life. It was the size of a cantaloupe and absolutely dripping with thick caramel that covered every inch of it. “How do you expect me to eat all of this?” he asked Zero Two when she came back with plastic disposable forks and a large number of napkins.

“I don’t, I expect us to eat it,” she said, grabbing a fork and jamming it into the enormous roll, pulling off a large piece of fluffy bread, dunking it in the spilled caramel in the bottom of the tray, and jamming the entire thing into her mouth. Hiro watched as she chewed, his expression completely straight. Zero Two made some noises of encouragement, gesturing for Hiro to eat. With a sigh and a smile, the bemused boy picked up his own fork and pulled off a piece as well, albeit much smaller than Zero Two’s.

“Who even makes something like this?” he asked between bites.

“Only these guys. Trust me, I’ve checked, and only this store makes this work of art,” Zero Two said, forcing another massive piece past her teeth.

“What’s it called?” Hiro asked, barely believing his eyes as the chunk of caramel roll disappeared into his girlfriend’s mouth.

“Mmph mhmp ahhmph,” Zero Two said around her huge bite, struggling to contain the roll as she ate.

“Stop that, at least chew first. And look, you’ve got caramel sauce everywhere,” Hiro said, grabbing a napkin and pressing it against Zero Two’s face, catching the bead of caramel that had escaped the corner of her mouth. He carefully dabbed at the eating girl’s face, scooping up any stray bits of roll and caramel. “You need to get that off right away or else it’ll stick to your skin.”

“Keep making that face at me and I’ll let you clean it off me later,” Zero Two said quietly, her shining eyes looking up at Hiro, inuendo heavy in her voice. Suddenly flustered and realizing what he was doing, Hiro made a quick retreat, dropping the used napkin on the table and hiding behind the shrinking caramel roll. “Some other time?” Zero Two said with a giggle, still able to see her boyfriend’s blushing face.

“So, what’s it called? The roll?” Hiro asked again, eager to change the subject.

“The Diabetic’s Doom,” Zero Two said offhandedly, slowly pulling off a long strip of roll and pushing it into her mouth in waves. Hiro deadpanned again before laughing.

“It would be wouldn’t it. And naturally you manage to find it.”

“Yep!” she said cheerily, picking up the last piece of the roll and examining it. She looked up at Hiro and the sly grin he was becoming extremely familiar with appeared. “Say ‘aah’ Darling,” she said, holding the last of the roll out to him. Hiro glanced around, and upon seeing there was no one watching them, leaned forward and bit into the large chunk of caramel roll, pulling away half of it.

“You were supposed to eat all of it,” Zero Two said with a little pout, still holding the roll out to Hiro, who had to quickly shove the bite of sticky bread into the corner of his mouth to respond.

“Knowing how much you love these, I couldn’t just eat all of it. I don’t mind sharing.” Zero Two looked at him intently for another handful of seconds before pulling the roll back and fitting it into her mouth, barely tasting it as she considered Hiro.

“What?” he asked, cleaning any smeared caramel from his face. Zero Two shook herself a little.

“Nothing, you’re cute” she said cheerily, standing up and scooping the caramel roll’s paper tray up to carry to the trash. “Come on, we’ve got a few more stops.” She quickly scurried away, forcing Hiro to push his confused thoughts aside and scramble after his reenergized girlfriend.

True to Zero Two’s word, the couple continued to tour the mall, looking at different shops filled with clothes and curios, but still not buying anything. They continued the pattern for another hour before they found themselves in a larger store, wandering among the racks once again. Zero Two was poking through a bunch of what looked like school uniforms while Hiro examined some hats, when the busty girl pulled an outfit free of the rack.

“What do you think of this one?” she asked, holding the outfit in front of herself and turning to gauge Hiro’s reaction. The black-haired man looked up, turning a cap over in his hands. Zero Two was holding up a black shirt and skirt combo, with small gold buttons and chains hanging off them. Thin stripes of white encircled the short sleeves and the top and bottom of the skirt. The outfit looked purposefully small though, the skirt looking like it would only reach midthigh and the top falling short of the waist by a few inches.

“I…think…it looks a bit small,” he said, continuing to turn the hat over in his hands, seemingly unaware that he was doing it. Zero Two examined him and then the outfit before turning and walking off.

“Stay here, I’m going to go try it on,” she said, draping the shirt/skirt combo over her shoulder as she walked away, leaving Hiro standing among the clothing racks, still holding the cap in his hands. He looked around at a few other things while he waited, one red dress in particular catching his eye. He was about to pull it out when he felt a tap on his shoulder, drawing his attention to the woman standing behind him.

Everything Hiro had thought about the outfit had been spot on, from the length of the skirt that left a mile of creamy leg to be seen to the inches of clearance between the bottom of the shirt and the waist of the skirt that left Zero Two’s tight midriff exposed, the fabric of the shirt actually held slightly away from her skin by the swells of her sizable breasts.

“Do you like it?” Zero Two asked, making a small twirl that send the loose fabric of the skirt swirling, teasing him with just a little more of her smooth thighs. Hiro forced himself to swallow before answering.

“Y-yes, I think it looks…good. Very good,” he said with a stutter, transfixed for not the first time by the pink-haired girl, who looked at him with her head tilted for a second.

“Then I’ll get it,” she said, spinning away with another small twirl. “I think I’m going to need a few things with it though.” She walked over to the hats Hiro had been looking at and picked out one that had the same black with gold accent style as the outfit. She popped it on her head and struck a pose in front of a mirror, looking herself over. “Yeah, I like it. Good choice, Darling.”

“But you chose it,” Hiro said, still thrown off by the girl that he had somehow gotten for a girlfriend, who immediately spun back towards him.

“Okay, then what would you have picked out for me?” she asked with a hint of challenge. Hiro, suddenly on edge with nerves, looked around before seeing the red dress he had been looking at before Zero Two rejoined him. On impulse, he grabbed it and held it out, keeping his eyes averted from her to ensure he would still be able to speak.

“This one,” he said, hoping he sounded more confident than he thought he did. He must’ve, because Zero Two gently pulled the dress and its hanger out of his fingers and walked back towards the dressing room. Only once she disappeared from view did Hiro realize he hadn’t really seen what the dress looked like, only that it was red, a color he thought suited Zero Two and her passionate personality.

Hiro waited somewhat patiently for Zero Two to come back, both excited and nervous for her reaction and to see what she would look like. He didn’t wait more than a few minutes before he spotted pink hair weaving through the racks towards him. The first thing he saw when she rounded the corner was the burning crimson color of the dress, broken up by black fabric around the hems of the sleeveless dress. The straps over her shoulders were extremely thin, barely seeming to do anything, while the rest of the bright fabric curved around her breasts before stopping, showing almost no cleavage but all of her collarbone. The skirt of the dress was slightly longer in the back, falling to just below her knees, whereas the front rested just above. A small twirl revealed a darker red ribbon on the back at the waistline, breaking up the color of the dress slightly.

“I guess you like it, Darling,” Zero Two said, laughing. Hiro realized a second later that he had been staring at her with wide eyes, his mouth slightly open. “I like it too,” she said, twirling again in front of the mirror. “Do you think I should get this one too?” she asked, to which Hiro immediately nodded. Giggling, Zero Two looked around the store.

“Okay, I will, but I get to pick something out for you too. And you have to get it if I say so.”

“I thought you were the one going shopping,” Hiro said, trailing after Zero Two as she walked through the men’s clothing, plucking a black shirt off a rack immediately before looking through some pants.

“I was, but it’s not fair if I get two things and you don’t get any.”

“I had some of the caramel roll,” Hiro said, trying to deflect the conversation, though he didn’t really know why.

“So did I,” Zero Two countered, pulling a dark red pair of pants off the shelf and holding them up to Hiro’s waist, before swapping them out for a slightly longer pair. “We shared that, so it doesn’t count. Now go try these on, I want to see how you look. Go, I’ll be right here.” Zero Two shooed him off, leaving him no choice but to head towards a changing room.

Looking at the clothes Zero Two had picked out, he realized they weren’t too different from what he wore usually, with the exception of the color of the pants. He liked them, he just wasn’t sure he’d like them on himself. Still, knowing Zero Two wouldn’t be satisfied until he bowed to her wishes, he changed into the chosen clothes, shifting them around a little until they felt comfortable. He looked at himself in the mirror with a critical eye. He didn’t hate how he looked; it was just a little different. He briefly tried to wrangle his hair into a manageable mess before accepting that it was beyond help and that Zero Two was going to get what she would. He quickly walked out of the changing room, refusing to stop and continue to second guess himself.

He tried to walk confidently towards where Zero Two was waiting, not wanting to disappoint her with hunched shoulders and a nervous attitude. Of course, there was only so much he could do, but he thought he hid his fear reasonably well.

As soon as his pretty girlfriend spotted him, he saw her eyes widen a little and a big smile appear on her lips. She rushed over to him and looked him over.

“See, I knew you’d look great. No arguing, you have to get it,” she said, looking at him with a proud expression, as if congratulating herself on her excellent fashion choices.

“Really?” Hiro asked, still not sold on it. “I’m not sure I like the pants; they’re a little…loud.” Zero Two’s smile quickly turned into a pout.

“If you’re not getting that, exactly as it is, then I’m putting this dress back too. You chose for me, so I get to choose for you. Plus, look, we match!” she exclaimed, pulling Hiro to the mirror and standing next to him.

Hiro didn’t like to admit it, but she was right. The color of his pants matched well with the ribbon on the back of her dress, and the black accents on the hems of her dress tied his dark shirt in too. They really did look like a couple like that, both complementing each other.

“And see, if I do this,” Zero Two said, wrapping her arms around Hiro’s neck, bringing their faces to bare inches apart, “now I think we look perfect.” Hiro watched as the couple in the mirror stood together, really looking like a perfect match. He saw the girl lean closer and press her lips to the boy’s cheek, feeling the soft press of flesh on his jaw, before they broke apart and the moment passed.

“Okay,” Hiro said, his mind made up. “I’ll get them.” Zero Two smiled again.

“I knew you would. I look too good in this dress for you to refuse. Quick, go get changed and meet me up front, I’ve got one last place I need to go,” she said cheerfully, a sneaky tone slipping into her voice at the end of her sentence. Whatever that was, it probably didn’t bode well for Hiro’s composure. Still, he swapped back into his original clothing and walked up to the front of the store. Somehow, Zero Two was already there and paying for her clothes, having apparently changed impossibly fast. Or he was just slow. Hiro quickly paid for his outfit and the two of them left the store with their bags in hand. Zero Two was quick to lead him towards the one area of the mall that they hadn’t visited yet, apparently leaving best for last.

Naturally, the place she had to go was the lingerie store, the absolute worst place for Hiro to be with her. Not only because, well, boobs, but Zero Two’s teasing was sure to reach an all-time high. Luckily for him, she left him outside the store with their bags, saying she had to leave some surprises for later. Hiro wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with the emphasis she put on the word ‘later’ but let it slide as he sat on a bench outside the store, purposefully looking away from the storefront and its alluring posters.

* * *

Zero Two had been inside Victorian Silence plenty of times before. It was one of her favorite stores to visit actually. She knew she had a great body and made sure to enjoy it. She delighted in the looks she got from men and women alike, desiring to have her in one way or another. That had always been enough for her, but now she felt differently. She wanted to really impress Hiro.

But she worried that her usual choices wouldn’t be enough. He had already seen her undressed once before, what if he wasn’t as interested next time? Zero Two didn’t want to disappoint him, so she found herself wandering the store, looking for that nebulous something.

“Anything I can help you find, miss?” one of the store attendants asked politely, approaching Zero Two as she searched the store. Zero Two looked at the young woman, ready to dismiss her, but stopped short. Normally she would never ask someone for help, but maybe this woman could recommend something.

“I’m looking for something to go with this,” she said, pulling out her phone out and showing the woman a picture of the red dress her Darling had picked out. The store woman looked carefully at it.

“Did your boyfriend pick it out?” she asked, starting to lead the surprised Zero Two through the store.

“How did you know…?”

“I saw you two outside the store. He’s cute,” the saleswoman said with a laugh.

“He’s mine,” Zero Two said with a small growl, instantly defensive. If this woman wanted to take her Darling, she’d have to do it over her cold….

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not in the business of stealing people’s boys,” the clerk said quickly, derailing Zero Two’s detailed plan of how she would demolish the woman. “I was just thinking that he has good taste to pick that out for you. He looks like a very nice boy.”

“He is,” Zero Two said, resolute in her assessment.

“Here, try this on and tell me what you think,” the woman said, grabbing a dark red bra off a hanger, its edges fringed with bits of lace. Zero Two quickly took it and ducked into one of the fitting rooms. Trying it on, she found that it was actually perfect. The dark color of the cups complemented her hair nicely and would do the same for the dress. The lace was also perfect, showing hints of the skin underneath that would probably make her Darling freeze up. She smiled, already looking forward to when she could wear it for him.

“It’s great,” Zero Two said when she came back out of the changing room, smiling excitedly. “I’ll take this, some matching underwear, and…these,” she said, grabbing a pair of dark tights to go with the other outfit she bought. The saleswoman quickly led her over to the counter to pay.

“So how long have you two been dating?” she asked as she rang up Zero Two’s purchases and tucked them into a bag.

“About…two weeks, I guess,” the pink-haired girl said, glancing towards the front of the store, trying to spot her Darling waiting for her.

“Is he your first boyfriend?” Zero Two thought about it for a second. She had dated other guys before, but they had never been like her Darling was. He was different, so…

“Kind of,” she ended up saying. “It’s weird.”

“I’ve been there,” the cashier said, handing Zero Two her bag of things. “Well, I hope you like him, because you’re going to have a hard time getting rid of him once you show him those.” The women shared a small laugh and Zero Two left the store, eager to tease her Darling about her new purchases.

He wasn’t right outside the store, but Zero Two quickly spotted him standing in front of a bookstore next door. She skipped towards him, landing at his side and peering through the window of the store with him.

“What’re you looking at?” she asked cheerfully, her face close enough to his to see a slight blush appear on his face through his concentration.

“Just seeing if they have anything interesting. I’ve read some of these, they were pretty good,” her Darling said, pointing to a few books stacked on top of each other. “I always like to check the new releases for anything…interesting…” Hiro’s words lost momentum as something caught his eye. “Did that come out already?! How did I miss that?! Zero Two, come on!” he exclaimed, grabbing the confused pink-haired girl’s hand and dragging her towards the bookstore’s doors, the excited smile on his face tugging on Zero Two’s heart.


	8. Chapter 8

“Yes, they’ve still got a few!” Hiro said joyously, holding a small paperback book in his hands. Zero Two looked at him with curious bemusement, not sure what was so important about that book.

“This is the latest book in the ‘Space Cowboy’ series,” Hiro explained when she asked. “The last one ended on a cliffhanger last year and I’ve been waiting to find out what happens next for ages. I’m definitely getting this.” He held the small paperback firmly, as if someone was going to snatch it out of his hands. He also abruptly came back to himself, realizing he had dragged Zero Two into the store over a book.

“S-sorry about that,” he said, giving his girlfriend an embarrassed look, while she smiled quietly at him.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind. I guess you like reading more than I thought.”

“I guess. It’s just interesting, you know. You can read about something that happened a thousand years before you were born or be a part of a fantasy world with creatures and things that could never be real. Anything can happen and there’s a thousand different ways it can happen. Characters can come to life and feel more real than anything with the right amount of effort.”

“Hmm, you like reading way more than I thought.”

“S-Sorry, I guess I’m rambling,” Hiro said, just a little embarrassed, but Zero Two quickly shook her head, sending her pink hair flying around her head.

“No, I like it, it’s cute.” That didn’t help Hiro’s embarrassment, but his blush was a treat all its own for Zero Two. “Plus, I like to hear about the things you like. Even if it’s not something I like.”

“You don’t like reading?” Hiro asked with a surprised tone. He could hardly imagine going without his favorite pastime.

“Not really, it…” Flashes of lonely days and the spines of endless books surrounding her lingered in her mind, accompanied by things she’d rather forget. “…it’s just not something I really enjoy. I don’t like sitting still for that long. Plus there’s hardly ever pictures.”

“Heh, I should have known. I can read for hours, but I really can’t imagine you sitting quietly for that long. It just…doesn’t suit you,” Hiro said, thinking out loud more than anything.

“Nope, I’m a free spirit, unable to be chained down by big serious books with far too many words and no pictures,” Zero Two said, turning dramatically in the book store isle.

“Those are my favorite kind,” Hiro said, feigning hurt. People shot dirty looks in their direction as Zero Two’s bright laughter broke the quiet of the book store.

* * *

Ichigo watched with a cautious and just barely twitching eye as Hiro studied across the table from her, face first in a textbook and intermittently mouthing the words to himself as he read. It was a cute tick she had noticed years ago that appeared whenever he was deep in thought. Now though, her irritation wasn’t so much with him and that quirk, but the other girl that was also watching him silently mouth to himself.

Despite insisting she had nothing to study for, Zero Two had decided to come to their little study session, bringing the headcount up to an unwelcome seven. She sat there, across from Ikuno, fiddling with her phone and watching Hiro with a silly looking smile on her face. And to make matters worse, she had her feet up and planted firmly on Hiro’s lap, her bare toes idly playing with the hem of his shirt.

Ichigo quickly looked away when Zero Two glanced her way, returning to the statistics homework she was ineffectively working her way through. Normally, she was studious and attentive, but something about Hiro’s pink haired girlfriend being in her peripheral vision left her unfocused and unable to study.

“Got it, it’s 7x + 4y,” Zorome said triumphantly, though it was hard to tell with his face stuffed in his math textbook.

“That’s not even close to right,” Miku said offhandedly, writing something on her own homework sheet. Naturally, Zorome immediately saw her statement as a personal attack.

“Oh yeah? Then what’s the answer?” he asked defiantly.

“14x + 9y,” Miku returned readily. She had seen his enflamed retort coming a mile away and was more than ready for it.

“14x – 9y,” Zero Two said suddenly. Both Miku and Zorome looked at her with confusion.

“Huh?” Zorome said, eloquent as ever.

“You missed a negative, it’s -9y,” Zero Two reiterated, not looking up from her phone.

“...it is. How did you know that?” Miku asked after checking her work, extremely puzzled.

“I’m in that class too,” the pink-haired woman said off-handedly as she craned her neck to see what Hiro was writing. Ichigo’s displeasure deepened a little more.

“You are? I’ve never seen you there,” Miku said suspiciously.

“The class is boring and the teacher is boring. I just do the homework and turn it in. I’ll go for the tests, but I’m not sitting through that snore fest.”

“What about lectures? How do you know what’s going on?” Zorome demanded, more than a little irked at being shown up.

“I read the book. Plus, it’s not that hard, it’s just algebra.”

“Yeah, well ‘just algebra’ is kicking my ass,” he whined, looking over his work to try and find what he did wrong. “Hiro, how is it that you have a hot _and_ smart girlfriend, and I’ve got nothing?”

“What?” Hiro asked, surfacing from his homework at the sound of his name. Zero Two just leaned over to him and ran her fingers through his black hair.

“He said you’re lucky to have me, Darling,” she said, delighting in the feeling of his messy locks.

Hiro just blinked at her for a second. “Yeah,” he finally said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, going back to his reading before he saw Zero Two’s beaming smile or Ichigo’s deepened scowl.

“Zero Two,” Ichigo said with a healthy dose of bite, “shouldn’t you be studying for something? We have our first tests of the semester next week.”

“Nah,” she said shortly, her eyes not budging from the screen of her phone. Ichigo felt her brow twitch again.

“’Nah’? You shouldn’t be so careless with your education! It costs a lot to go here; you should care more!”

“I'm here on a scholarship,” Zero Two said dismissively, waving her hand slightly like that would invalidate Ichigo’s point.

“That doesn’t make a difference! Jian U is a notoriously challenging and prestigious college, with lots of extremely well-known and influential graduates. You’re standing on the shoulders of giants; you should have some respect.”

“Why?” Zero Two asked, finally lowering her phone to look at the shorter girl with her burning teal eyes. Ichigo had always thought the color was a bit odd, but now with them staring her down, they were downright scary. “I don’t know them, and they definitely don’t know me. Great, they did something, whatever I do doesn’t change that. So if my actions don’t have any effect on them, who are they to tell me how to live my life?”

“Zero Two, you can calm down, no one’s attacking you,” Hiro said cautiously, breaking the staring match between his oldest friend and his girlfriend as Zero Two’s eyes darted to him, quickly losing their bite. For as much as Ichigo didn’t like Zero Two, she could definitely understand why the girl’s gaze softened when looking at Hiro, particularly in the face of his earnestness.

“Sorry Darling, I know you don’t like it when I get angry,” she said, wrapping her arms around Hiro’s shoulders, leaning forward to do it so the boy had an easy chance to look down her shirt’s purposefully lower neckline. Hiro valiantly resisted the urge to look.

“I just don’t want you to get too worked up, you tend to get a little…volatile,” he said carefully. Zero Two smiled seductively at him, her fingers tangling in his hair again.

“Will you kiss me then? Take my mind off things?” Ichigo stifled a snort at the shameless question, but also forced down a shard of jealousy, especially as Hiro leaned in. She had to purposefully stare into her homework, adamantly refusing to watch.

The kiss seemed to drag on, even as Zorome muttered ‘gross’, the two participants lost to the world until they broke apart. “Mmm, keep kissing me like that and I’ll get worked up in a different way, Darling,” Zero Two said quietly, but still loud enough for Ichigo to hear. Hiro’s face flushed, but not as deeply as it would have a few weeks ago. He was slowly getting used to Zero Two’s teasing, though he doubted he’d ever be entirely immune. Ichigo, however, knew she’d never stop hating it.

“Shameless flirt,” she mumbled, scribbling something barely legible on a sheet of paper. Zero Two’s eyes darted towards her, as did Ikuno’s, but Ichigo didn’t see either of them, too busy being angry at her paper to notice.

From there, the conversation shifted back to studying, though Ichigo still couldn’t focus, though not because of the usual squabbling from Miku and Zorome. Zero Two continued to be horribly distracting, asking Hiro different questions about what he was reading and studying. The black-haired young man answered eagerly each time and Zero Two listened attentively, but Ichigo saw that she was paying more attention to him than to what he was saying. Eventually the pink-haired girl borrowed a pencil and piece of paper from Hiro and started to doodle, leaning back in her chair and continuing to toe at the hem of his shirt as she did.

Just as she was getting to be frazzled to the point of utter ineffectiveness, Hiro finished with his work and started collecting his things. “Done already?” Goro asked, reminding Ichigo that he was there.

“With everything for now,” Hiro returned, packing away his books in his usually orderly fashion. “I’ve got a few more things to work on, but…”

“He said he’d do something with me if I let him study, and I did, so now we’re going to go do something that’s actually interesting,” Zero Two interrupted, folding the piece of paper she had been drawing on into origami.

“Critical Thinking is interesting,” Hiro said quietly, pulling his backpack over his shoulder as best he could with Zero Two holding one of his arms.

“Sorry, I’m with her on this, dude. I don’t know how you get your head around some of those problems,” Goro said, shaking his head. “See you back at the room?” He said it more as a question than Ichigo was comfortable with.

“Yeah, eventually. Zero Two hasn’t had as much sugar tonight as usual, so she’ll probably pass out sooner than usual.”

“Hey, I’m not a pet, I’m right here!” the girl exclaimed, poking at Hiro in a way she knew would get a reaction out of him.

“Gah, stop it, stop it!” he yelped, trying to twist away from his girlfriend’s jabbing hands. “Here, give me those and let’s go.” One of Hiro’s hands came down and grabbed Zero Two’s, their fingers immediately intertwining. “I’ll see you guys later,” he called, the two of them walking off back towards the dorms. Ichigo didn’t stop fuming until the pair were out of sight, and even then, she only snapped out of it once Ikuno poked her.

“Come on, forget it,” the spectacled girl said, looking up from her own work. Ichigo tried, but couldn’t help taking one last look at where Zero Two and Hiro had been sitting. The little piece of origami sat there, fully formed into a little bird with sharp lines and a word on one of its sides. _‘If’._ Curious, the blue-haired woman reached out and unfolded the little bird, slowly revealing what was written on it.

Or rather what was drawn. On the paper was what Ichigo had to admit was an incredible drawing. It was clearly a picture of Hiro, incredibly detailed and accurate, down to a scattering of spots next to his ear. His black hair was just as tangled, messy, and chaotic as it really was, jaw set in a sharp line of concentration and focus. His lips were parted slightly, frozen as he mouthed some word to himself. Even the single eye that was visible was rendered in such detail, despite the pencil medium. Somehow, the eye was incredibly realistic, and the emotion contained within was palpable. Thoughtfulness, focus, consideration, happiness, all of it was captured in the flat grey of graphite on paper. Ichigo was so fixed on the picture that she nearly forgot the words scrawled beneath it.

_‘Not flirting if you follow through.’_

Ichigo crumbled the paper in her fist, threw it on the table, and stormed off towards the bathroom.

* * *

No one at the table moved for a few seconds after the short blue-haired girl stormed out, everyone just looking at each other. Eventually, Goro reached out and uncrumpled the paper, looking at it with a groan.

“Yeah, that’d do it,” he said, tossing the smoothed paper back onto the table for everyone else to look at. Everyone took a turn looking the drawing and its taunting message over, each of them reacting differently. Ikuno gave a heavy sigh and returned to her work, though she continued to throw glances towards the bathroom where Ichigo had gone. Zorome regarded it with about the same level of indifference, though he did add a comment about the skill on display. Miku looked at it long and hard though before she said anything.

“That’s kind of mean,” she finally added, a sentiment Goro had trouble disagreeing with.

“She’s always made it clear she doesn’t care what other people think, but this is a step past that,” he mused. “I think she and Hiro are good for each other, but she should make an effort to at least not antagonize Ichigo.”

“Well, she doesn’t seem to have any problem with me, so I’ll try to talk to her,” Miku said, standing up from the table. “I’m gonna go check on Ichigo too.”

“Thanks,” Goro said with a look of relief. “I would, but…”

“Yeah, probably not the best idea to have you in the women’s bathroom,” Miku said with a laugh. “I’ll to talk to her, be back soon.”

Miku was a little apprehensive about how she was going to have to comfort Ichigo. When it came to Hiro, the girl’s usually cool-headed attitude completely disappeared, and the coming conversation was entirely about him. She just hoped that she could calm the blue-haired woman down. Still, she did take a quick, calming breath before entering the bathroom.

Ichigo wasn’t hard to find; she was standing at the counter, absentmindedly washing her hands while staring through her reflection. “Hey, you okay?” Ichigo didn’t respond, she only continued to rub her hands beneath the water. “We were all worried. Goro especially. He wanted to come check on you, but we didn’t think that was a good idea.”

“He was that worried? Why?” she asked, finally turning the water off and drying her hands. Miku sighed internally at her friend’s obliviousness, wondering how she could possibly miss Goro’s feelings for her. It was pretty obvious to everyone else in their group, at least those who paid attention. But then again, she hadn’t ever been able to tell Hiro her feelings either and they had known each other since they were little kids. Maybe she just had an issue. Still, Miku wasn’t going to spring Goro’s feelings on her friend either. That was for them to figure out.

“You know how he is,” she said offhandedly, to which Ichigo nodded, accepting the answer without any more words on the subject. Miku had to force herself not to roll her eyes. “Anyways, are you okay? We all saw…what Zero Two drew. Wrote. Whatever.”

“She’s shoving it in our faces. Gloating,” Ichigo said, her hands curled into fists. “She’s not _good_ for him, but no one _sees_ that. She’s this…this storm, and she’s going to tear Hiro apart.”

“Ichigo, you can’t think like that,” Miku said with a quiet sigh. “You’re not being fair, to Zero Two or to Hiro. Why can’t you let them enjoy what they have?”

“Because it’s all fake! Even her name is fake! Her name is Iota, not Zero Two. She can’t even be honest about that! She is going to do nothing for Hiro except ruin any idea of happiness he can imagine.”

“Okay, really? Ichigo, I’ve tried to be nice, but you sound insane. You’ve never even had a conversation with her that didn’t involve you throwing a huge amount of shade at her, so I’m not really sure you’re allowed to condemn her for making a bad impression. And either way, it’s their relationship. We don’t have anything to do with it! If she’s actively doing something that’s hurting him, that’s one thing, but she’s not. She’s not some poisonous plant, she’s just got a few thorns. Their relationship is fine, but if you keep acting like this, you are going to be what ruins it and neither of them is going to forgive you for it.” Miku had to take a deep breath and calm herself, not realizing how worked up she had gotten.

“Ichigo, I’m your friend. I want to be on your side, but I can’t. Not on this. This time you’re just wrong. So please, just…stop.” The two girls watched each other, wondering who would break eye contact first, until Ichigo finally looked down at the water dripping off her hands.

“I don’t want to hurt him,” she finally said, uncharacteristically quietly. It wasn’t often Miku saw the blue-haired woman cowed. “I just don’t want him to get hurt.”

“I know,” Miku said leaning back against the counter next to Ichigo. “We all know. But you have to let him take chances. Hiro’s smart: if something’s not good for him, he’ll realize that. He doesn’t need our help to know what’s right. So just trust him. He’ll be okay.”

“Alright,” Ichigo said, drying her hands. “I’ll try. To trust him.”

“Her too.”

“…her too. I’ll try. I’ll try.”

“You’re a good friend, you know that right?” Miku said, looking at the shaky Ichigo out of the corner of her eye. “You care. A lot. That means more than you might think. Especially to Hiro.”

“I try.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note some mildly erotic content at the end, marked by two line breaks. It is not essential to the enjoyment of the story, so if you are uncomfortable with it, I encourage you to skip it. Otherwise, please enjoy (as I imagine most of you will). And if you like it, please let me know, as well as if you'd like to see future such scenes more explicit or not. I try to toe a fine line with it.  
> There are also some more outfit references below for Zero Two's party dress and her evening wear.  
> https://i.imgur.com/7iegvxq.jpg  
> https://i.imgur.com/wAoZtww.png

Hiro let himself fall heavily onto one of the couches in the library, though not as heavily as Zorome did on the chair next to him. The two boys let out matching sighs, though one was, as expected, quite a bit louder than the other.

“I thought I was gonna die,” the sandy-haired Zorome said, arms thrown wide with a melodramatic flair.

“You were fine,” Mitsuru said, not glancing up from the book he was reading. Hiro wondered what it was, but didn’t ask.

“Nah, I almost passed out during that test. My vision tunneled, hands were clammy, the whole bit.”

“You were fine,” Mitsuru said again in the same flat tone. “If you really thought you had failed, you wouldn’t be saying anything.”

“He’s right, Zorome,” Hiro finally said, equally well accustomed to his friend’s antics. “You can’t pull that trick on us anymore.”

“You’re both no fun,” the short man grumbled, though he lit up again when he saw Futoshi walking towards their corner, with Kokoro and Ikuno close behind. “Futoshi, I almost failed! Almost passed out mid test!”

“Ours weren’t that bad,” Kokoro said, leaving Futoshi to comfort and play along with Zorome. “Especially the last one. Pretty easy I’d say.”

“Disheartening to think that’s only the first one though,” Ikuno said, shrugging her backpack off and taking up residence in Zorome’s vacated seat.

“Don’t think like that, Ikuno,” Kokoro said, giving Mitsuru a light kiss on the cheek, making him smile, though it vanished a moment later. “As long as we work hard, none of them will be that much worse. It’ll be fine.”

Hiro was about to agree when he heard the soft thump of a bag landing on the floor behind the couch and felt a familiar someone slither between the back of the couch and his own back. He allowed himself to be moved and adjusted himself so he was sitting on someone’s lap, their familiar scent surrounding him.

“And how were your tests, Darling? Was it worth abandoning me for a week for?” Zero Two asked, her mouth within licking distance of his ear, something that became very evident by her tongue gently flicking over the tip of it and making him shudder a little.

“You make it sound so dramatic,” he said, partially turning to barely be able to see her cute and teasing smile slightly hidden behind pink hair. “It was only a few days and I promised to make it up to you.”

“Then-“

“We are not going to get another one of those rolls. I worry for your blood pressure enough as it is.”

“You’re no fun,” she pouted, resting her chin on his head and surrounding him with a pink curtain.

“And you stick around me anyways,” he returned with a smile she couldn’t see but could hear perfectly well.

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“How were your tests, Zero Two?” Kokoro asked, sitting down on the other end of the couch, holding one of Misturu’s hands in the gap between his chair and the couch. “Any of them give you any trouble?”

“No, they were all easy…Kokoro,” Zero Two said, adding the pale blonde’s name a second later. Hiro warmed internally at that. It had taken time, a few weeks, but Zero Two was slowly allowing herself to be part of their group, starting with calling the others by their names and holding actual conversations with them. “If any tests trip me up, it certainly won’t be the first one.”

“I wish I had your confidence,” she said, giving the other woman a bright smile.

“You don’t need it, you’re plenty smart. And very pretty too. He agrees with me,” Zero Two said, pointing at Mitsuru, who was suddenly much more interested in his book.

“Don’t assume things about me,” he said quietly, not looking up from the page he was reading.

“Is she wrong?” Kokoro asked innocently, which Mitsuru only answered with a deep blush. His girlfriend giggled and squeezed his hand but left him alone otherwise.

“Oh boy, are we making fun of Mitsuru?” the energetic Miku asked, bounding in and jumping onto the couch between Kokoro and Hiro and Zero Two, quickly grabbing and snuggling into the first of the three. “Can I join in?”

“No we’re not,” Goro said, coming in just behind Miku along with Ichigo.

“Bah, you’re no fun,” Miku said, brushing her red hair out of her face.

“Neither is Hiro,” Zero Two quickly chimed in. “He won’t let me ‘overdose’ on delicious sugary caramel rolls. I feel wronged and abused.”

“That’s criminal! Hiro, you need to take better care of your girlfriend! Their meant to be spoiled rotten!”

“Her diet consists of 75% sugar already! I’m the one being responsible!”

“Bull. Shit. You, Zero Two, are in desperate need of a good time. There’s a party over at the Amy house tonight, you should come with me!”

“The Amy house?” Zorome asked, finally coming back to the group.

“Yeah, four girls all named Amy live there. Weird coincidence, but they sure know how to throw a party. You coming?”

“They’ll have drinks, right? Might as well,” Zorome said, already getting excited for what was sure to be a fun party.

“I’m in, should be fun after the first round of tests,” Kokoro said, tugging on Mitsuru’s arm. “I’ll bring this grump too.”

“Kokoro…”

“Shush, it’ll do you good to get out. We don’t have to stay long if you aren’t having a good time. Well, Zero Two? Are you coming?”

“Do you want to go, Darling?” she asked the boy sitting on her lap, who tilted his head back to look at her better, unintentionally pressing his head directly into her boobs.

“I mean, if you want to. I promised to make it up to you and apparently I need to spoil you more. So if you want to go, I will too.” Zero Two looked down at him for a moment before smiling.

“Well, if you’ll be there, I think it could be fun. Let’s go. Maybe it’ll be like the party we met at. Could have the same ending too.”

“Let’s…not get ahead of ourselves,” Hiro stammered, fighting to keep the red out of his face. “But it should be fun.”

“You have to wear something hot,” the pink-haired girl said with a smile, which widened when her boyfriend sputtered.

“Ooo, I’ll help. He’s going to knock your socks off,” Miku said giddily, Kokoro agreeing to help a second later.

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Hiro asked, slightly scared to raise too much of a fuss with his head in Zero Two’s grip.

“Nope!” the three girls said nearly simultaneously with a giggle.

* * *

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. I’m a girl too, you know.”

“Yeah, but I’m not trying to impress you. You’re not trying to impress me. You’re not trying to impress her. The only relationship of impressions going on here is me impressing her. And this…”

“Makes you look good,” Kokoro interrupted, breaking the back and forth between a nervous Hiro and a confident Miku. “You look good, Hiro. Zero Two will love it.”

“It’s not that different from what I normally wear. My hair doesn’t look any different at all.” He really wasn’t wearing anything out of the ordinary, dark jeans with a dark blue button up tucked into it and the top two buttons undone.

“That’s fine, boys pretty much look cute no matter what. It just takes a little extra effort to guarantee it.”

“You just rolled up my sleeves.”

“Yeah, girls love a bit of forearm. It looks good. Just stop picking at it and go. You’ll make her wait if you keep worrying about it,” Miku said as one last bit of encouragement before shoving him out the door of his dorm. The two girls shooed him on when he looked back, giving him no option other than walking down the hall towards the common area.

Contrary to what Miku and Kokoro said, Zero Two was not waiting for him in the common area, leaving him to stand there awkwardly and fidget. He was debating between taking a seat and knocking on his girlfriend’s door when that door opened and Zero Two spun out, a deep blue skirt swirling out around her. Her momentary pause to close the door gave Hiro a second to look her over.

The dark blue fabric that swirled loosely around her knees ended there, leaving her gentle, pale calves bare. A white belt around her waist emphasized the tightness there and gracefully clung to the rest of her torso as well. The low cut left a lot of her sternum bare, though her breasts were well covered, and she showed barely any cleavage. The dress was held up with frilly straps over her shoulders and a matching band was wrapped around her neck, sharing the space with a pretty twin necklace.

He tried to take in the full measure of her before she turned, but not locking her door as usual gave him less time than he expected. Her sea-foam eyes caught his, trapping him in the act, but as he should have expected, she didn’t mind.

“Like what you see, Darling? I know I do,” she said, hoping closer to him with a cheery smile. As soon as she was within reach, she threw her arms around him and kissed him, her mouth hot and energetic against his. Hiro couldn’t help but bask in the feeling for a minute before voices snapped him out of it.

“Alright, the lovebirds have had enough time to themselves, let’s get going,” Miku’s voice said, coming down the hall with a number of others. Hiro unsuccessfully tried to detangle himself from Zero Two before giving up once he realized he wasn’t getting away from her. She giggled at his half-hearted antic and kissed him again, this time on the cheek, before the rest of their friends entered the room.

“Alright, everyone ready?” Kokoro asked, dragging along a somewhat unwilling Mitsuru.

“Yep, let’s go! Party time’s a wasting!” Zorome said, as full of energy as ever as he stuck a dramatic pose pointing towards the elevator and ran towards it. Everyone else followed and soon they were walking towards the party, talking, joking, and laughing as usual.

“Shame Goro and Futoshi didn’t want to come,” Ikuno said, looking at something on her phone as they walked.

“Goro always overworks himself for tests. And did you really expect Futoshi to give up the post-test buffet they put on at the dining hall?” Hiro asked rhetorically, making everyone laugh except for the girl holding his arm.

“Is it different from the normal one?” she asked, her pink hair flowing around her in the evening breeze.

“There’s even more food than normal if you can believe it…and now you want to go,” Hiro answered with a note of resignation, once again making everyone laugh. One of the first things the group had come to terms with about Zero Two was her immense appetite, occasionally rivaling Futoshi’s.

“Next time we’re going to that,” Zero Two insisted, looking at her boyfriend with the sort of earnestness she only showed when she was really excited about something.

“Let’s worry about tonight first,” he said placatingly, but was surprised when she backed off so quickly.

“Okay. Anyways, I’ve got other tasty treats for tonight,” Zero Two said sneakily, making Hiro blush and Zorome feign a gag.

“Keep it to yourselves, you two! Jump each other when I’m not here to hear it!” he said loudly.

“So if you’re not here, I can?” Zero Two called back teasingly, making Hiro trip over himself a little. “Just kidding. Probably.” The last part was only said loud enough for Hiro to hear, nearly making him trip again.

The Amy house was indeed designed for a party, and plenty of people had shown up for one. The house, front, and back yard were full of people holding drinks, talking, dancing, and generally having a good time. Within a minute of arriving, Zorome was scooped up by some of his other friends and was being quickly encouraged towards getting very drunk, which Miku and Ichigo quickly tried to delay. Mitsuru and Kokoro also disappeared, with Ikuno vaguely following after them but still giving them some space.

“I don’t really go to parties, what do you usually do first?” Hiro asked hesitantly, making Zero Two laugh.

“Darling, I’ve seen you at two parties and you’re telling me you don’t know what to do?”

“Okay, one of those I was only at looking for you, and I don’t really remember a lot of the other one.”

“Hmm, fair enough. First things first, drinks! This way!”

From there, the couple made the rounds through the house, getting themselves drinks that Zero Two drank quickly, snapping up Hiro’s when he wasn’t drinking it as fast as she deemed necessary. She didn’t seem any worse for it though. They hung about in the backyard a little, enjoying the still warm fall air before the winter chill set in and watching people mill around. They mostly sat next to each other in front of the fire that had been built despite the early hour, before roaming around some more, as well as a bit of dancing that Hiro mostly spent watching Zero Two move in truly fascinating ways. A few people Hiro knew from school were there and saw him, stopping to chat about this and that before moving on. It was a bit of an odd feeling, since he hadn’t really talked to anyone at any of the previous parties he attended, but something else prickled his senses more.

Almost since the minute they got there, Hiro could tell people were looking at them. He caught them looking sometimes, usually at Zero Two, but occasionally at him too. He had no misconceptions as to why: Zero Two was notorious around campus for her…flighty nature. Seeing her showing up to the party with a guy and sticking with him was something the regulars would likely notice, especially if they had heard that she had a boyfriend. Fortunately, most of them restrained themselves to just looking. Unfortunately, ‘most’ wasn’t ‘all’.

“Hey baby, remember me? I definitely remember you. Hard to forget a night like that.”

“Who are you?” Zero Two asked flatly, glancing at the man speaking to her out of the corner of her eye. Hiro had gone to the bathroom and as soon as he was out of sight, this lunk smelling of intoxication had made an exceedingly subtle move on her, leaning against the wall next to her.

“Aww, I’m hurt. We had a great night together ‘bout a month ago. Can’t say I wouldn’t mind another one. What do you say? Ditch that beanpole and come have a real man.”

“How about you go piss into the wind?” Zero Two said with a bored tone, idly looking over the people at the party and ignoring the oaf next to her. She honestly couldn’t remember him, though she had a rough idea of when she had met him. When she first arrived at Jian, she had…gone a little overboard. Part of the reason her roommate had gotten her moved. Regardless, his current presence was unneeded and unwelcome, something he clearly didn’t realize.

“The fuck you say to me? You think you’re hot shit cause you like to sleep around? You fuckin’ bitch!” he swore, reaching for Zero Two remarkably quickly considering his less than sober state. It wasn’t fast enough to catch her though, and he quickly doubled over from a forceful jab to his solar plexus that knocked the wind out of him. His half-finished drink fell to the ground and Zero Two took a quick step away to avoid the splash. Her eyes flicked around to people watching her, her ears catching their accusations of her laying the man out without provocation, as if they knew anything. Luckily, she also saw her Darling and walked towards him.

“Zero Two, what’s going on? What happened to that guy?”

“He was hitting on me, wouldn’t take a hint. He tried to feel me up and I stopped him,” she said bluntly, both because those were the facts and she wanted to see how he would react. Any other man would have probably gotten defensive and angry, maybe even gone to give the offender a piece of their mind, but her Darling just looked her over to make sure she was okay again and took a very small step back. Zero Two smiled and almost giggled as Hiro jumped when she slipped her hand into his. “Come on, don’t let it ruin the night! Let’s go over there!” she exclaimed, dragging him behind her as she wove through the crowd.

They continued to roam around the party, neither of them really settling into the mood. Neither one wanted to drink, Zero Two apprehensive after what happened last time, and Hiro not being much of a drinker to start. Dancing was fun, but only for so long, and the incessant noise made talking a struggle.

Not to mention the stares. What had been a mild annoyance when they arrived had become more oppressive after Zero Two had laid out her unwelcome annoyance. They didn’t feel unwelcome, but they were definitely noticed. And at some point, noticed was a little too much.

“Do you want to be…not here?” Hiro said eventually, glancing over to his girlfriend. They were seated on an unremarkable couch in an unremarkable house at an unremarkable party, and Hiro couldn’t come up with a reason they should be there instead of anywhere else.

“Sure. Party sucks and there’s kinda no point anymore. Especially when there’s so many other things we can do,” Zero Two said, only teasing a little.

“Let me just find Goro and let him know we’re leaving.” Hiro craned his neck to try to see his taller roommate, but the dozens of people filling the room were too chaotic.

“Here, I’ll help,” Zero Two said, before hopping up on the couch and onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist with hands pushing on his shoulders to get a better look around. “There, he’s over by the kitchen.”

“Great, can you get off me?” Hiro asked with a pained gasp. “You’re crushing my spine.”

“No, onwards, straight ahead! And if you’re have the stamina, we can do a different kind of riding later.” Hiro couldn’t even respond to her teasing; he was too busy trying to keep his feet under him. Still, he worked his way through the party, people moving out of the way for them, until they found Goro talking to some of his classmates, with Ikuno, Miku, and Zorome nearby playing some party game.

“Hey, we’re heading back early, just so you know,” Hiro said over the pounding music, making sure Goro nodded in acknowledgement before he started walking towards the door, Zero Two wrapping her arms around his neck to lessen the burden on his shoulders and make herself easier to carry.

“And don’t worry about your room, I’ll keep him in mine one way or another!” Zero Two shouted at just the wrong moment, her words easily heard by everyone around them as the music lessened for a second. On the plus side, Hiro rationalized, Goro wouldn’t have to worry about mishearing her. It also put a little more speed in his step to escape the party and the momentarily higher number of eyes watching them.

“Come on, Darling, they weren’t all looking, you’re exaggerating. Besides, what do you care what they think?” Zero Two said as they walked back towards campus. He had been a bit sullen ever since they left the party and was sulking his way home.

“I’d rather just not have to consider it. A lot of attention like that…it makes me uncomfortable,” he said, something other than discomfort flitting across his face for a bare moment. “I’d much rather avoid it altogether.”

“Well, if you want to avoid people, I know the perfect place,” Zero Two said, and within a few minutes, she was closing the door of her room behind them, leaving them, as promised, alone. “So, I promised Goro I’d keep you here all night, and we have plenty of time. Anything you want to do? Cause if not, I’ve got a few ideas.”

“What, um, are those?”

“Movies! I’ve got a whole collection and there’s even more online. Want to watch one?” Zero Two’s earnest and pure expression holding an open laptop blew away any suspicions he had of lewd motivations from her and threw him a little off guard. He had been prepared to rebuff her usual teasing, not deal with what was apparently one of her pass times.

“Uhh, sure. You can pick whatever you want,” he said, sitting down on her bed.

“Hmm, that’s a lot of options…let’s do this one. Ever seen it?”

“No, I’m not a big movie watcher. I don’t think I’ve seen any of these,” Hiro said, looking through what he could see of Zero Two’s massive digital library.

“Good, that means there’s plenty we can watch. But you’ll like this one. It’s about a bunch of giant monsters that come out of the ocean and people build giant robots to kill them.”

“That…sounds like a pretty shallow premise,” Hiro said gently, not wanting to step on any landmines.

“It is, but it looks really good, and what’s cooler than watching giant robots beat the shit out of giant monsters?” she asked while pulling the movie up on a TV he hadn’t noticed before.

“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” he said, settling back on the bed. He sat gently, not quite comfortable making himself at home, but Zero Two had no such qualms. With a quick slither that Hiro tried not to stare at, she slipped out of her blue dress and pulled on a light black dress that almost seemed like a slip for how short it was.

“Why so tense?” she asked, settling in beside him, sitting a scant few inches from him.

“No reason,” he said quickly, the defense made much less convincing by the squeak In his voice.

“Oh, so if I do this…” She moved over suddenly, twisting her arms around his chest and pressing herself against his torso. “…that’s not an issue?”

“Uhhh…”

“Mmm, good, I like it here. Feels like a good movie watching spot. Come on, relaaax, Darling. Unless you want to do something other than watch a movie…”

“Movie’s fine,” Hiro said hurriedly, relaxing as much as he could with a girl as hot as Zero Two cuddling him.

“Perfect,” she hummed, taking a long slow sniff of his scent, the smell of his skin more captivating to her than the movie.

Hiro, for his part, tried not to fidget too much.

Forty minutes later, the plan to not fidget was going up in smoke. Pink, heart-shaped smoke, mainly coming from Hiro’s intensely blushing face.

Ten minutes into the movie, Hiro had finally gotten comfortable enough to actually relax and wrap his arm around his affectionate girlfriend. After twenty minutes, Zero Two had snuggled into him even more, her head firmly on his chest with a bit of her pink hair tickling at his partially exposed collarbone. At the thirty minute mark, she was digging in deeper taking longer sniffs of his shirt and the skin underneath, one of her hands having undone another two of the buttons on his shirt for better access. And by the time forty minutes had passed, her gentle tongue poking at his bare skin was warming more than just his cheeks.

“Zero Two, what are you doing?” he finally whispered, making the pink-haired woman pull back a little.

“Mmm, sorry Darling, you just smell so good. You taste so good. You make me…” She trailed off and pulled back, worried she might have said too much, but Hiro didn’t really react, negatively or otherwise. “I mean…”

“Zero Two, it’s okay,” Hiro said looking at her intently, feeling swirling in his eyes to match hers. He gently leaned over and pressed his lips to hers, feeling her gasp against him. “I want you too,” he whispered, no longer paying attention to what was happening on the TV. Zero Two practically squealed with happiness as she mashed their lips together again, kissing, nipping, licking, and sucking on him with overwhelming enthusiasm. He was more than happy to ride the feelings with her until she started pushing her hand under his shirt.

“Hold on, hold on,” Hiro said, pulling back just a little. He felt Zero Two jerk beside him, but held her close, not letting her pull away more than a few inches.

“I shouldn’t have, you don’t want to, I shouldn’t…”

“Hey, stop. I told you I want you too. I just…not all at once. I just…want to take it slow.”

“Okay, sorry Darling, we can go as slow as you want,” she said, pulling back again and lifting her hand away from his chest, but his own hand came to stop her.

“I mean we shouldn’t go too far. But we can do a little.” Zero Two’s eyes brightened again and a sneakily seductive smile came over her flushed lips.

“Let me show you what you’ve been missing out on, Darling.”

* * *

* * *

“First things first, Darling. You’re overdressed.”

“Zero Two, I’m not sure that’s…”

“Just the shirt, Darling. I want to feel your skin again. I won’t do anything you don’t want.”

“Fine,” he acquiesced, shifting in her unrelenting grip to shrug off the shirt that Zero Two had already gotten fully unbuttoned. “…but only if you do too,” he added a second later.

“Are you sure?” she teased playing with the hem of his undershirt and tugging it upwards to play with the warm skin underneath. “I might not be wearing anything under this. Do you want to check and see?” She watched him gulp cutely, his eyes suddenly much more nervous. They traced over the exposed skin of her collarbone, shoulders, and the sides of her body visible though the loose arm holes. It really wasn’t much, especially compared to what he had seen that first morning, but Zero Two loved the way he marveled at it anyway. She loved his eyes and loved to feel them on her.

“Umm..maybe…maybe I could…just…feel?”

“Whatever you want, Darling. But first, you have to show me what I want.” She pushed her hand higher on his chest, tracing over the faint muscles there with the tips of her fingers. “Come on, Darling.”

“Okay, okay, calm down,” Hiro said, lifting his arms and pulling his undershirt off, rumpling his black hair after to get it back into his preferred messy tangle. Zero Two wasted no time laying back on his thin chest, breathing deeply of his smell and his skin.

“If you’re trying to make me calm down, you’re doing it wrong,” she whispered into his neck, her tongue coming out to flick against him again. “So,” she whispered with a happy shudder, “do you want to check what I’m wearing underneath?”

She felt firsthand how his muscles jumped at the suggestion and couldn’t help but laugh a little. His nervousness and the delicateness he touched her covered waist with was adorable and tickled every part of her. Still, as much as she wanted to touch him, she wanted him to do the same. So gently, ever so gently, she covered his hand with hers and dragged it upwards across the thin cloth.

She half expected him to stop, to stiffen up and resist, but he didn’t. He almost did too, but for some reason even he didn’t know, he didn’t. Hiro just let Zero Two lead his hand up her waist and onto the rise of her breast, only fighting a little when she pressed his palm into the mound. A short kiss few kisses to his cheek and neck were all it took to make him soften again.

“Come on, Darling. You can do whatever you want. Touch whatever you want. I promise I won’t be mad. Quite the opposite,” she teased.

“I’ve never…done this before. I don’t want to hurt you or…be bad,” he said with the last of his flagging hesitation. Zero Two laughed quietly again.

“Sorry to tell you, Darling, but you have done this before, and done a wonderful job if memory serves. And you don’t have to worry, you won’t hurt me. I promise.” She purposefully arched her back a little, and her Darling’s hand pressed into her heavy breast with wonderful force. She felt his breath catch and groaned into his mouth when his fingers pressed in further. “Just have fun.”

As Zero Two’s hand circled his pectorals, Hiro let himself do what she said and just focused on her, on the heavenly firm softness under his hand and the jutting point that touched his palm even through her light dress. He hefted her breast in one hand, the other pressed against her back to keep her as close as possible, and squeezed lightly. A happy hum told him he was doing a good job and he didn’t stop.

Hiro tried everything he could think of, everything he wanted to do. Every light and firm touch, each brush of the nipple underneath, gentle tugs and squishes were all matched by Zero Two’s own hands and lips with matching force. Their intensity ebbed and flowed, the touch of one spurring the other on. Their pace continued, Zero Two reveling in his pounding heart and delicious smell, and Hiro satisfying his boundless curiosity concerning her body.

The pink-haired woman hummed quietly as she felt Hiro’s other hand moving around her side from her back. She was about to tease him about wanting more when his thumb slipped under the outer edge of her dress, trailing over her skin just under her arm. The simultaneously soft and rough pad of his thumb skated up the swell of her chest, the contact making goosebumps appear on the touched surface. She actually shuddered when her reached her nipple, poking and teasing it oh so gently.

“Darling…” she groaned, the word almost unintentionally slipping out. She gave the smallest of moans as both his hands went to work on her large breasts, his movements quickly growing bolder. But their current position, pressed almost chest to chest, was awkward for both of them, and Zero Two was quickly becoming annoyed with her Darling’s movements being hindered. So with a slow twist, she turned over and laid half on his chest, her head resting in the hollow of his shoulder while her back laid across his torso, which had the lucky effect of pushing her fleshy globes even higher for him to hold more. “Keep going, Darling, you can touch me as much as you want. Especially when it feels so good.”

“Is this…all you want? I can do something else if you…”

“No, this is perfect. Keep going, this is enough for me,” she whispered back, one hand laying on his lean upper arm and her face pressed into his neck and hair. Hiro, suitably encouraged, pushed both hands under her dress and wrapped them around her prominent boobs, taking his pleasure from them. And eventually, when Zero Two’s hand tangled in his hair and twisted his lips into hers, he didn’t resist in the slightest.

Their kiss was perfectly in sync with each other, both meeting in the middle to exchange a passion rooted in powerful attraction, growing affection, and the sprouting hints of love. Tongues wound around each other, both wanting to be tied together even deeper. Hiro’s grip and massaging became more forceful and energetic, and Zero Two breathed deeper of his scent and tangled her fingers even deeper into his black hair. They groaned into each other, both taking more pleasure from that single moment than they had from anything else in a long time. Their intensity only broke when Zero Two started to gently move her hips and Hiro stiffened, his roaming hands going still.

“Sorry,” she whispered against him, barely audible.

“It’s okay,” he said back, just as quietly. Zero Two’s hips stopped and Hiro started again, their lips easing back together with both of them knowing their limit for the moment. For Zero Two, it was harder than she expected, her body telling her to get past the teasing to the real fun, but she held herself back. She told herself her darling would be worth the wait, that what would come would be all the better for it, the proof being his hands that still played with her breasts. His touch felt better than any man’s ever had and she could feel herself tensing from that and the taste of his lips alone, until she reached a small peak with a small gasp and a tremble. She had never felt that before, not from her heavy breasts alone, and very much looked forward to what she could coax out of her Darling with time.

But for that night, they laid in bed and caressed each other until they eased into sleep.


End file.
